Undercover
by LiaBelle
Summary: Mac has a special assignment for Danny...
1. Chapter 1

When Mac calls you into his office for a "private chat" it's never, ever, under any circumstances, a good thing. And that's a fact. It is also the reason why Danny and Lindsay, fresh off of their honeymoon, were terrified when Mac informed them he'd like to have a talk with them in his office.

"We didn't do anything wrong did we?" Lindsay asked Danny while they were slowly meandering in the general direction of Mac's office. Obviously, they were trying to delay their little meeting as much as they could.

Danny racked his brain. "I don't think so…I can't think of a thing, can you Montana?"

"No! We didn't break any rules, tamper with any evidence…we came back to work when he told us to! I can't think of anything!" She was obviously in great distress over the whole situation.

Danny stopped walking and gently grabbed Lindsay's arm to prevent her from continuing further. "Lindsay, honey, it's all gonna be ok."

"How do you know that?" Lindsay asked defiantly, "We don't even know what's wrong!"

"I just know." Danny answered simply. "Besides, we both know that I'd never let anythin' bad happen to ya. Ever." He emphasized his last word. They both knew with all their hearts that it was the truth, no doubt about it. Danny would give his life to protect his precious Montana.

Lindsay took a deep breath and stepped into her husband's open arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and he held her tightly. They reluctantly broke apart when they remembered that they were in the middle of the lab. Danny kissed her on the forehead. "It's gonna be ok," he repeated softly.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just overreacting."

"Nah, you're not. I don't like bein' called into Mac's office, either," he took her hand and they continued down the hallway.

"Ah…Danny Messer finally admits his greatest fear," Lindsay teased.

"I never said it scared me, just that I don't like it," he clarified. "There is a huge difference."

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say Messer."

"Hey, you're a Messer now, too, sweetheart, and don't you forget it."

She pecked him on the lips quickly. "I don't plan on ever forgetting."

They stopped in front of Mac's office. His head was bent over his desk, totally enthralled by his paperwork, it seemed. "Ready?" Danny asked his wife.

"As I'll ever be," she told him.

"Ok." He dropped Lindsay's hand and knocked on the door.

Mac looked up and waved them in. "Sit down," he told them as soon as they entered the room. He put the paperwork he was filling out in a manila folder and stacked it neatly on top of some other folders on the corner of his desk. "I have a proposition for the two of you," he looked them straight in the eye. Danny grabbed his wife's hand under the desk. "And you're not going to like it."

**A/N Cliffhanger! Yes! Lol ...jk…sorta. Anyway ...this is my newest plot bunny…its something I've been throwing around my head for a long time, but just never got it down in print…so tell me what you think…more is coming.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	2. Chapter 2

Danny squeezed Lindsay's hand and snuck a quick look at her. She was biting her lip nervously, bracing herself for what was about to be said. Despite the circumstances, Danny couldn't help but find this little habit his wife had unbelievably sexy.

Mac pulled a file folder from the opposite corner of his desk. Without a word he opened it and placed three crime scene photos on the desk facing them. They depicted a young woman sprawled on the ground, a gun shot through her head and blood pooled around her. "This is Dianne Walker," he said. "She was killed while you were gone."

"Mac, with all due respect, what does that have to do with us?" Danny asked his boss.

"It was the Tanglewood boys, Danny," Mac replied quietly.

Lindsay took a quick intake of breath.

"So?" Danny asked, still trying to keep his cool.

"We never convicted them. There wasn't enough evidence. But we know they're up to something. Drugs, murder…. everything."

"Why her?" Danny asked, still not having the answers he wanted.

"Her brother was Marcus Walker." Mac said simply.

"The kid who turned them in?" Lindsay asked, remembering the case from a while back.

"Yes."

"Mac…what are you proposin'?" Danny asked nervously, even though he was pretty sure where this conversation was heading.

"I want you to go undercover for a few months. Meet up with the Tanglewood boys… say you were stupid to turn them down. Say you want to be one of them."

Lindsay gasped when she heard this. "No!" she exclaimed. "It's too dangerous!"

"Danny, we need you to do this. They're getting out of control. They're dealing drugs left and right, killing innocent people for no good reason."

"I see what you're sayin' Mac - "

"Are you seriously thinking about doing this Danny?" Lindsay interjected, not even allowing him to finish his sentence.

"But I'm gonna need to think about it and talk about it with Lindsay," Danny finished, ignoring Lindsay's outburst.

"There's no need to talk about it with me, Danny," Lindsay huffed, "You're not going!"

"Can I sleep on it and get back to ya tomorrow?" Danny asked.

"Sure," Mac agreed, "But Danny… we really need you to do this."

"Understood."

"Can we go?" Lindsay's voice wavered.

"Yes. Go home and talk about it. I need an answer first thing tomorrow morning."

Lindsay didn't say a word as they walked to the elevator and pulled away when Danny tried to grab her hand.

His heart broke a little when she did this.

"You can't shut me out, honey," he said quietly when they entered the empty elevator.

The barrier of tears Lindsay had tried so hard to hold back finally fell. She couldn't hold them back any longer.

Danny's heart broke a little more. "Sweetheart…" he took her into his arms. She came willingly and held onto him tightly. "It's ok. Don't cry."

"It's not ok!" she sobbed, "You're going to go and leave me here all alone and get yourself killed or forget about me or - "

Danny cut her off before she could say another word. "Lindsay look at me," he said almost fiercely. When she refused to comply, he took one hand and lifted her chin so that she was looking into his eyes. "I love you. I would never forget about you. I'm not physically or mentally or emotionally capable of doing that. You know that. You are my world, Montana, and no matter where I am or what I'm doin' or who I'm with that's not gonna change. Do you understand?"

She sniffed and nodded. "I love you, Danny," she choked out and another tear escaped and trailed down her cheek. Danny wiped it away with his thumb and kissed her gently just as the elevator door dinged open.

"C'mon, honey. We'll talk more at home." He wrapped a protective arm around her and led her out onto the street and towards the subway.

They didn't say a word on the subway or on the short walk from the subway station to their apartment. They entered the apartment, sill in silence. Danny headed towards the kitchen while Lindsay headed towards the bedroom. "I'll start somethin' for us to eat," Danny offered.

"Ok. I'm going to go change," Lindsay said without any emotion in her voice.

Once again, Danny's heart broke a bit.

Lindsay held it all together until she was in the bathroom, where she dissolved into tears. She sunk down onto the floor and rocked back and forth, trying to no avail to control her tears. Afraid Danny would hear her, she locked the door and turned the shower on. She undressed and stepped into the shower where the spray of water from overhead mixed and mingled with the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. "I can't lose him," she said quietly.

She didn't know how long she stood there in the shower crying. Time seemed to slow and stop. She wasn't jarred back to reality until Danny rattled the doorknob and knocked on the door. "Montana, you all right?" he called, concern evident in his voice.

"Yeah!" she called back, "Just a second."

She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a large, fluffy towel around her petite frame. It was Danny's towel, she realized. It smelled like the soap he used. Spicy and masculine… not at all like the lavender soap she used. The tears almost started again, but she was strong this time, and held them back. She pulled on a pair of sweats and one of Danny's t-shirts. Lindsay towel dried her hair and stepped out of the steamy bathroom, back into the land of the living.

Danny was sitting on the bed waiting for her. "Pasta's cookin'," he said quietly.

Lindsay nodded and headed to the dresser to find socks to warm her suddenly freezing feet.

"Linds," Danny said. She turned to face him. He stood up. "Come here," he opened his arms to her.

She crossed the short distance between them and felt his arms close around her. Her face was pressed to his hard, muscular chest. She could feel his heart beating, smell his signature cologne that she knew he wore just for her. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to her body. "I can't lose you," she said, repeating the words she had uttered to herself in the shower.

"You won't," he assured her. "I'll always be here. Always."

**A/N Lame ending, I know. No decisions made yet, although I'm pretty sure you guys are smart enough to figure out what's going to happen. It's not like I didn't give it away in the title or anything….anyway, review. Next Chapter up soon.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	3. Chapter 3

Danny marched into Mac's office first thing the next morning. "I'll do it." He said bluntly.

"Good."

"Under one condition," Danny clarified.

"And what's that?" Mac asked. He knew Danny would be reasonable with his request, yet he was still curious.

"You have to swear that you guys will watch out for Lindsay. You can't let her get lonely and you have to keep her safe."

"Danny, you know we'd do that anyway." Mac said. That was not what he was expecting.

"I just need to hear you say it," Danny replied.

"I promise that I'll look after Lindsay," Mac said, "I'll make sure she isn't lonely and make sure nothing happens to her."

"Thank you, Mac," Danny said quietly. He started to leave.

"Danny," Mac called.

Danny turned around, "Yeah, Mac?"

"Why don't you and Lindsay take the rest of the week off," he suggested, "so you can spend as much time as you can together before you have to cut off all contact."

Danny smiled. "Thanks, Mac. You sure you'll be ok without us?"

"Positive," Mac said with a slight smile. "Go take your wife home, Danny."

"Ok, thanks again. I'm gonna go find her!" He practically bounced down the hall.

He found Lindsay in the break room making some coffee. He bounded up behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Let's go home," he said kissing her on the neck.

She sighed, "Danny, I'd love to do that, but we can't and you know it."

"Yes, we can." Danny insisted, a wicked smile on his face.

"No, we can't!"

"Mac said to take the rest of the week off," Danny told her, turning her around so that she was facing him and kissing her quickly.

"He did?" Lindsay brightened visibly.

"Yep," he kissed her again. "He wants us to be able to spend as much time together as we can before….I go," he finished lamely.

Lindsay tried to ignore the last two words he spoke. "Ok, cowboy, let's go."

* * *

Several hours later, Danny and Lindsay lay naked on their bed, tangled up in the sheets and wrapped in each other's arms. "I have one rule," Lindsay said, somewhat sleepily.

"And what's that?" Danny kissed her nose.

"You aren't allowed to talk your undercover job. No 'when I'm gone' or 'while I'm away' or anything like that."

"Montana, we're gonna have to talk about it."

"I know. We can talk about it on Sunday."

"But, Linds, I leave Monday morning," Danny said gently.

"I know." Lindsay said defiantly, all sleepiness gone.

"Lindsay…" Danny's voice had a mixture of warning and the beginnings of frustration.

"Don't 'Lindsay' me," she said crossly, scooting out of his arms and turning away from him.

"I don't think so, beautiful," Danny gently pulled her back and turned her around.

"Why do you have to be so strong," Lindsay scowled.

"Honey, we have to talk about this," Danny insisted, "This is gonna be a huge change for both of us, you know that."

Lindsay sighed. "Just not today, please?"

"Tomorrow," Danny agreed. He kissed her gently. When he began to pull away, she caught the back of his head and once again lowered his lips to hers.

"You're not going anywhere," she murmured against his lips, nibbling gently.

"I wasn't planning on it." Danny wrapped his arms around his wife and pulled her close.

Their moment of passion was interrupted when a tear leaked out of Lindsay's eye and rolled down her cheek.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Danny asked, wiping the tear away.

Lindsay didn't say anything for a long time; she just buried her face in his chest and drank in the moment. Danny's arms around her, holding on for dear life, his spicy, masculine scent, the feeling of his light chest hair against her cheek. She needed to preserve these last few days in her memory so she could recall them when she didn't think she'd make it. Her tears soaked his chest, his hand stroked her hair. Danny's own tears sprinkled onto her hair. "I'm going to miss you," she sobbed.

"I'm gonna miss you too, my beautiful Montana," he assured her, his voice thick with emotion, "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she held him tighter, never wanting to let go. "I love you." She repeated quietly.

**A/N Kinda lame and dramatic there at the end. I apologize. Had to fit that in somewhere though, and this was the lucky place. Review?  
**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	4. Chapter 4

The couple slept in the next morning. Seeing as their job didn't allow for much sleep, they were awfully tired a lot of the time. Danny woke up with a start around 10. His wife slept peacefully in his arms. 'I'm wastin' time with Montana,' he said to himself. As gently as he could, he removed Lindsay from his arms and got out of bed. Grabbing his glasses he padded down the hall and into the kitchen in his boxers and no shirt.

Lindsay woke up about a half an hour later when the smell of Danny's breakfast wafted through the apartment. As if on cue, Danny appeared in the bedroom, a tray of food in his muscular arms. Lindsay smiled softly and halfway sat up in bed. "I should be making you breakfast, not the other way around," she chided gently.

"Nah," he set the tray down on the bedside table and kissed her. "I don't mind. I like showin' off my insane cookin' skills to my beautiful Montana." His statement earned him another kiss from Lindsay.

"Well, that seems just fine with me," she laughed.

"Good." Danny crawled back into bed after carefully placing the tray on the bedside table. He picked up the tray once again, and set it on his lap. "Hungry?"

"Famished," Lindsay said picking up a piece of toast off of Danny's carefully prepared tray.

"Toast?" he asked, feigning hurt. "I made this wonderful breakfast for you and all you take is toast? I mean, sure, Montana, I have mad skills with a toaster, but I think I'm a little more kitchen savvy than that."

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Calm down, cowboy, I'm just warming up."

"Glad to hear it," he said through a mouthful of pancake.

"That's so gross, Danny," she wrinkled her nose.

"Are you serious?"

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" It was more of a question than a statement.

It was Danny's turn to roll his eyes. "You spend your days lookin' at decapitated bodies and people who have arms chopped in half or who have died because they were speared with a railroad spike through the corroded artery and think it's all fun and games. But when I talk with my mouth full, it's disgusting?"

Lindsay thought about it for a moment. "Yeah." She stated simply, "it is."

"You are somethin' else, Montana," Danny shook his head.

"Oh, but you love it," she teased, picking up a piece of bacon and popping it into her mouth.

"You know I do," Danny said, kissing her on the cheek. He wanted to give her a real kiss, but after just hearing her opinion on speaking with your mouth full, he was pretty sure kissing with a mouth full of food wasn't the smartest idea.

They ate slowly, savoring the moment, both of them knowing that they only had two more breakfasts (counting this one) together before Danny embarked on his journey. Two breakfasts, a lunch and a dinner. He left early on Monday morning. However, they were both determined to eat breakfast together one last time. It was their thing. They ALWAYS had breakfast together, no matter how crazy their schedules were. Even if it meant eating pancakes at 1:30 in the afternoon, they had their breakfast.

"I love breakfast," Lindsay decided out loud.

"I love you," Danny countered.

Lindsay smiled. It didn't matter how many times he'd said that to her. It always brought a smile to her face and a flutter to her stomach. "I'm gonna miss you." She told him again.

"Uh uh uhhh…" Danny chided, "None of that. Not today. Today is about you and me bein' together. Ok?"

"Ok," Lindsay agreed. She put her plate down on the floor and snuggled up next to him after he'd done the same. She took advantage of this moment to memorize every little detail about him that she could. The way he smelled, the feeling of his impossibly muscular arms around her, the way he looked down at her with such adoration that it made her heart swell up twice it's normal smile. These were the things she wanted to keep with her for these next few months when they were apart.

Danny did the same. He smelled her hair, memorizing the sweet scent of lavender that he had learned to associate with his perfect wife. He loved the feeling of her small, soft body in his arms. He studied her angelic face, stared into her eyes, never wanting to break eye contact with her.

She leaned up and kissed him gently.

"Y'know, you're just about perfect, Montana," Danny said adoringly.

"I'd have to say the same thing about you," Lindsay teased, "but I guess I am a bit biased."

"You'd better be, Mrs. Messer," Danny reached down and tickled her, causing her to jerk away from him and laugh hysterically.

"I am!" she shrieked in-between fits of laughter, "I promise you, I am!"

Danny took pity on her and stopped tickling her. "Good." He kissed her again.

She settled back into his arms, making herself very comfortable. "I wish we could stay here all day," she said lazily.

"Why not?" Danny said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "It's not like we have to be anywhere or see anyone."

Lindsay smiled. "You're on, cowboy."

**A/N Very late. Short. But, hey, late and short is better than nothing at all right? Please don't shoot me.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	5. Chapter 5

It had been perhaps the best, most relaxing day that either Messer had even had. From the time they ate their breakfast until about one in the afternoon, they stayed in bed, arms wrapped lazily around each other, just talking and enjoying each other's company.

"How do you feel about kids?" Lindsay asked her husband, somewhat shyly.

"Kids are great," Danny said with a smirk.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean." She whined.

"How about this, Montana," Danny said, suddenly serious, "the minute I get back, we start tryin' for a baby. I can just see a bunch of lil' Montanas runnin' around the place."

Lindsay smiled and snuggled closer. "We'll need a couple Daniel Jr's, too," she decided.

"As long as they look just like their mama," Danny kissed his wife softly. "Big brown eyes that suck you in and never let go," he trailed a finger up her bare arm, "curly brown hair, cute button noses," he kissed the feature in question, "the most beautiful smile anybody's ever seen."

"Or," Lindsay interrupted, "they could have eyes so blue you think you're going to drown in them, dirty blonde hair that's always messy, but cute at the same time," her hands locked around his neck and she kissed him quickly, "and a smile," she said, smiling herself, "that makes your knees go weak and your heart melt into a big pile of mush."

Danny's lips captured her own, ending her description of perfect Danny cloned children. She eagerly responded to him, trying to pull herself even closer. Their tongues battled for dominance as their kiss grew more and more intense. Danny left her mouth and began trailing feather light kisses down her neck, pausing in some places to nip gently creating red splotches on her ivory skin.

"Make love to me," Lindsay begged breathlessly.

Danny tipped his wife's head up to kiss her on the mouth again. "You don't even have to ask."

* * *

Much later, the two decided that they were hungry and wandered into the kitchen to find something to eat. Lindsay had put on one of Danny's dress shirts that had been lying on the floor and Danny was in nothing but his boxers. He couldn't help but admire how much better Lindsay looked in his clothes than he did.

"What do you want to eat, Montana," Danny asked, pecking his wife on the cheek.

"Hmm…" Lindsay rummaged through the cupboards and fridge. "Grilled cheese," she stated matter of factly.

"Grilled cheese?" he repeated, confused, "Babe, I thought you hated grilled cheese."

"I do," Lindsay said, "but I want it now." She sidled up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him briefly. "Are you going to deny me my one last lunch request?" She stuck out her bottom lip and made puppy dog eyes at him, something she knew he was unable to resist.

"Aw, Montana, don't do that face," he whined, kissing the pout off her lips, "grilled cheese it is."

"Yay!" she kissed him again and set off for the cupboard. "I'll see if we have any soup to go with it."

A little while later, the grilled cheese was ready, the soup steaming hot and the couple was curled up together on the couch deciding on a movie to watch while they ate.

"No," Danny refused when Lindsay held up _Win a Date with Tad Hamilton_. "I refuse to watch that chicky movie."

"Please," Lindsay begged, sticking her lower lip out again.

"No! Linds, that may have worked for the grilled cheese, but it is not workin' for a movie about a girl who works in a freakin' Piggly Wiggly."

"But it's my faaaavorite," she drawled out, "Please?" she batted her eyelashes innocently.

Danny scoffed. "The things I do for you," he rolled his eyes. "Fine."

"Awww, you're the best!" she exclaimed, kissing him again.

"I know," Danny said flatly as the movie flickered onto the screen. "I still can't believe I'm watchin' this movie with you. How is it that you always get your way?"

"I'm irresistible," she said breezily, nuzzling his neck, "and you loooove me."

"Right on both accounts, unfortunately," he agreed.

"Hey!" she feigned offence and slugged him in the shoulder.

"Ow! Montana that hurt!" It hadn't really.

"Good," she stuck her tongue out at him. "It was supposed to."

"Did you seriously just stick your tongue out at me?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "Do it again, I dare you." He challenged.

Lindsay's pink tongue poked out between her lips. Thanks to his amazing reflexes, Danny was able to gently catch her tongue between her teeth and suck on it lightly before she had a chance to pull it back into her mouth. "Mmm, Danny," she moaned. She kissed him urgently for a moment and then pulled away. "We're missing the movie," she whispered. "And our food's getting cold."

"I don't care," Danny told her, pulling her onto his lap and kissing her deeply.

Lindsay started to respond, but his wandering hands made her stop. _Tad Hamilton can wait,_ she decided.

**A/N Yep, so there's chapter 5. Short, again. Ik. Sorry. Review?  
**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	6. Chapter 6

"Ok, so I lied," Danny told Lindsay while the credits of _Win a Date with Tad Hamilton_ were rolling.

"What are you talking about?" she asked yawning, looking down at him and tracing circles on his bare chest.

"We do have somewhere to be," he told her.

Lindsay groaned. "Where? I don't wanna get dressed. I just wanna stay here with you."

"Don't worry. You'll still be with me," he assured her.

"Where are we going?" she asked again.

"It's a surprise," he grinned mischievously. He glanced at his watch. "You know, if we hurry, we could squeeze in a shower together before we have to go," he pulled her face down to his and kissed her.

"Ok," she agreed with a sigh, "but this better be good." She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the couch.

"It will be," he promised smacking her bare butt. "Now get going."

Giggling, she ran off to the shower, with her husband chasing after her.

One steamy shower later, the pair stood in the bathroom, wrapped in fluffy towels. "What should I wear?" Lindsay asked, "You'll have to tell me since I don't know where we're going."

Danny wandered into their closet and perused her clothes. He plucked a sexy, red halter dress with a plunging neckline off a hanger and threw it at her. "This," he said simply.

She caught the dress. "Are you serious?" she asked in disbelief. She'd only worn that dress once before, and Danny had absolutely drooled over her the entire time.

"Yep."

"What are you wearing?" she asked.

"You'll just have to wait and see," he said. "Now scoot."

"No, you scoot," she shot back, "I need the bathroom to do my hair and makeup."

"Fine." Danny grabbed some stuff out of the closet and headed into the bedroom, but not before stealing a kiss from his wife.

Lindsay set to work beautifying herself. She couldn't do much with her short hair, but she used texturizing gel that she'd never used before and it added a little oomph to her style. She layered on the mascara, really making her eyes pop, and put on a coat of deep red lipstick that matched her dress perfectly. She slid into the silky gown and stood in front of the mirror, making sure that she was adjusted, worried that she had too much cleavage showing. Finally, she grabbed a pair of dangerously high black heels, and called it good.

Danny was sitting on their bed waiting, bouncing his foot up and down. He stood up immediately when he heard the bathroom door squeak open and his jaw dropped when his wife materialized in the doorway. "Wow. Montana. You look…." He trailed off, trying unsuccessfully to come up with the right word.

Lindsay giggled. "I'm glad you think so," she wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him gently, as to not smudge her lipstick. "You look pretty nice yourself, Mr. Messer." It was true. Danny was wearing a dark gray suit with a white shirt underneath. The wow factor came from the blue tie he was wearing, which was the exact same color as his eyes. "You clean up nice," she teased.

Danny stepped out of her embrace and grabbed her hand. "C'mon," he urged, "we've gotta go."

Lindsay grabbed a dainty black purse and allowed her husband to pull her out the door, down the stairs and into the waiting cab. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?" she asked.

"Nope. You'll see when we get there."

"Ok," Lindsay sighed contentedly and rested her head on his shoulder, their fingers still intertwined.

When the cab finally stopped, Lindsay lifted her head up. "Is this it?" she asked.

Danny glanced out the window. "Yep, this is it."

He helped his wife out of the cab and paid the driver. Lindsay looked up to see where they were. "Barbetta's?" she gasped, "Danny, you shouldn't have!"

He kissed her gently to silence her. "Yes, I should have. You've always said that you wanted to come here, and now is your chance."

"Thank you!" she squealed, hugging him tightly.

"You're welcome, Montana." He led her into the restaurant and the hostess showed them their table.

Lindsay scanned the menu excitedly. "Danny, this is amazing."

"Only the best for my Montana," he smiled.

They ordered and the food came shortly. Much to Lindsay's delight, the meal was just as good, if not better than she'd hoped.

"I've got something for you," Danny announced as they waited for the bill.

"Danny…" Lindsay said, a hint of warning in her voice.

"No, listen," he grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together. "I bought this for you a few weeks back for your birthday, but since it looks like I won't be here for your birthday, I thought I'd just give it to you now." With his free hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet jewelry box.

"Danny," she gasped, tears springing to her eyes.

"Now don't get all teary eyed yet, Montana," he teased, "You haven't even opened it yet."

Lindsay laughed a little and took the box from him. Cautiously she flipped it open. The last jewelry box he'd given her contained her engagement ring, and she wasn't sure whether she should expect anything quite as spectacular, now. She gasped when she saw it. It was just as spectacular. A beautiful diamond necklace lay nestled in the box. "Danny, it's beautiful," she cried, leaning over the table to kiss him. "It's just perfect."

"Just like you," he murmured.

The waiter came with the bill, which Danny quickly paid so that they could get out of the restaurant and be alone.

Lindsay fiddled with her new necklace as the two walked hand in hand down the streets of New York. "It really is beautiful," she said again, still in awe of the wonderful gift.

"So are you," Danny stopped walking and pulled her close, kissing her gently on her eyelids, cheeks and finally on her mouth.

They walked side-by-side, hands locked tightly together, chatting lightly. Danny noticed his wife falling silent, but figured she was just deep in thought or something, and didn't press the matter. It wasn't until she sniffed a few times that he stopped her and turned her to face him. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Don't go!" she burst out, throwing herself into his arms, sobbing hysterically. "Don't leave me! Please, Danny, don't leave me…" The sobs overcame her and she was no longer able to speak.

Danny clutched her to his chest, tears dripping off the end of his nose and into her hair. He hated to be leaving her so soon into their marriage, especially for an indefinite time doing dangerous work. But, he reasoned, he'd given Mac his word. Danny knew it was for the better. It may not seem so right now, but in the long run, his undercover work would better the lives of a lot of people.

After several minutes and lots of weird looks from strangers, Lindsay's sobs slowed down a little and let go of her husband long enough for him to hail a cab. They rode home in silence, Lindsay biting her lip to stop the tears from coming again.

Once home, they stayed silent. Lindsay headed straight for the bathroom and locked the door. Danny sighed. He wanted to be there for her, he wanted to hold her and tell her that it would all be ok. But she was shutting him out – literally.

She emerged a few minutes later, her hair brushed out, the makeup scrubbed off of her face. She was wearing an old pair of flannel pajamas (definitely her least sexy pair) and headed straight for bed. Danny quickly changed and crawled in bed next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She stiffened and resisted at first, but soon relaxed in his arms. It killed Danny to feel the sobs wracking her small frame. "Don't leave me," she whispered. The vulnerability present in her voice brought tears to his eyes. "I need you."

Danny kissed her hair. "I love you," was all he had to say. He would have liked very much to assure her that everything would be all right, but they both knew that he couldn't promise that. All he knew for sure at that moment was that he loved her and she loved him and that was all that mattered.

**A/N Ahh…the corniness. It just overwhelms me. Sorry, guys, can't help it.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	7. Chapter 7

From the moment Lindsay woke up, a sick, knotted feeling rested in her stomach. She rolled over and glanced at the alarm clock, careful not to disturb her sleeping husband. It was still early. The red lighted numbers proclaimed it to be 6:30. They didn't have to be at work until nine. Her mind flashed to that first morning she had with Danny. He'd told her to go back to sleep, that he'd wake her up. He hadn't, he'd left a note just like in the dream she'd had. And then he went and got himself held hostage and landed in the hospital for a week, on sick leave for an additional two weeks. She couldn't help but wonder if this little undercover stint he was going on would end up the same way, or maybe even worse.

"Montana?" Danny's husky, sleepy voice broke her trail of thoughts. She rolled back over and was face to face with her husband.

"Hey," she said quietly, "I'm sorry about last night."

Danny held her close and traced patterns on her back. "Don't be," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "What time is it?"

"Early," she replied, a slight smile on her face. "Just go back to sleep, I'll wake you up."

Danny chuckled. "I don't think so, Montana. Don't even try that on me."

She smiled sweetly. "Whatever are you talking about, honey?"

Danny rolled his eyes and kissed her. "Nice try."

"Ah, it was worth a shot," she said, slightly ruefully.

"I'm really leavin', Linds," he whispered, "I'm really goin' today."

"I know," she fought back tears.

"Shh," he crooned, "don't cry. I'm still here now."

She nodded and bit her lip. "What's it going to be like?" she asked, "Being a Tanglewood boy," she clarified.

"I'm not quite sure. A lot has changed since I was a kid and they were tryin' ta get me ta join. But I'm sure some stuff has stayed the same," he didn't go into detail.

"Like what?" Lindsay wasn't going to let him leave it at that. She wanted details.

"Well, y'know, drugs, crime," he coughed, "girls."

Lindsay nodded, knowing that this one was coming. She could handle drug involvement and crime, because she knew that it wasn't real, it was just a cover. There was that small part of her that worried that any girls he was involved with weren't just a cover. What if it was real to him? What if he changed his mind about her while he was undercover?

"Baby, listen to me," he tipped her chin so that she was staring straight into his cobalt eyes. "I'm gonna do everythin' that I can to try and stay away from bein' with any girls, I promise you. And, if I can't, I'll be thinkin' of you the entire time."

Lindsay nodded, tears squeezing through her tightly shut eyes. Danny tenderly wiped them away with his thumbs and then crushed her to his chest, never wanting to let go. He peppered kisses all over her hair, which mingled with the tears that were falling from his own eyes.

They eventually had to get up. Danny had some things he needed to get together. "I'll make breakfast," Lindsay said, putting on a brave face. She fled to the kitchen, willing herself not to break down amid the pots and pans. She whipped up some waffles and poured batter into the waffle maker to cook while she scrambled some eggs. As a finishing touch, she put some strips of bacon into the frying pan and retrieved some orange juice from the fridge.

By the time Danny came into the kitchen, ready to eat, the waffles were stacked on a plate, as was the bacon. The eggs were still nice and hot in the pan in front of him and the orange juice was poured. "This looks great, Linds."

They ate in silence, their hands intertwined on top of the table the whole time. They cleaned up the kitchen together, still not saying a word. When they were done they both glanced at the clock.

"We should get goin' pretty soon," Danny said quietly.

"Yeah," Lindsay agreed. "I'm going to go shower quickly and get dressed."

"Ok," Danny agreed. Half of him wanting to offer to join her, but he knew it wasn't a good idea. It would most likely make them late, and it would make saying goodbye so much harder for the both of them. He camped out in their bedroom, waiting for the shower to turn off so that he could go in.

Lindsay dissolved into tears the moment she stepped into the warm spray of the shower. She wanted to be strong for Danny, she didn't want him to feel guilty for leaving her, but her emotions kept getting in the way. Sure, she had a right to be upset, but she wanted to be stronger than the average person, she didn't want Danny to know how much she hurt inside.

Danny was able to hear her sobs, even over the roar of the shower. He fidgeted for a few minutes, trying to keep himself from going in there to comfort her. In the end he couldn't stand hearing her cry and he burst into the bathroom. He opened the glass door to the shower and stepped in beside her, fully clothed. He took her into his arms and held her close. "You're getting all wet," she choked out.

"I don't care," he told her, "I can change."

He held her until her tears subsided. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," she smiled weakly. "Sorry."

"Don't be," he said for the second time that morning. He reached over and turned off the spray of water. They both stepped out and headed to the closet to change. Lindsay only took a few minutes to dry her hair and put on a little make up.

"Let's go," she said.

* * *

The two entered the lab hand in hand, both stony faced and expressionless. Everyone glanced at them in awe, elevating them to almost rock star status. This was a huge deal to everybody. The last time a CSI had gone undercover was when Lindsay did in the Holly Golighty case and that had only been for a few minutes, not a few months. They headed straight to Mac's office.

"Good morning," their boss greeted them. "Ready to go, Danny?" he cut right to the chase.

"Yeah," Danny said quietly.

"You two can say goodbye in the break room," he suggested, thinking that the glass walls of his office might make them uncomfortable.

Danny and Lindsay entered the break room, the silence of the small haven pounding in their ears. They both just stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to do. Wordlessly, Danny pulled her tightly into her arms. "I love you," he whispered into her ear, "You are my life, my world. Remember that."

Lindsay nodded as best she could in his tight embrace. "I love you so much, Danny." Tears began to slide down her face for what felt like the millionth time in the last few days.

They just stood there, enjoying each other's company one last time for who knew how long. There was a knock at the door, which they knew was Mac telling them that Danny needed to go. Danny rested his forehead on his wife's, not wanting to let go. He knew he had to, though, and pulled away. "Be safe," he told her. It was ironic as he was the one who was going to be in danger.

"You too," she squeaked.

Danny walked to the door. Lindsay stood on the far side of the room, tears falling down her cheeks.

His hand was on the doorknob. "Danny!" Lindsay called.

He turned around in time for his wife to jump into his arms, kissing him wildly. All the passion and love that she possessed was poured out into this kiss. He returned the kiss with just as much fervor, knowing that this would have to last him for a while. Gently, he pulled away when Mac knocked at the door once more. She reached up and kissed him one last time, gently this time. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too, Montana," he assured her and left.

Lindsay walked over to the couch and laid down on it, hugging her knees tightly to her chest, crying quietly. The sick feeling in her stomach intensified, due to the crying she supposed. She sat up, suddenly and bolted from the room. She literally ran down the hall and into the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet before she began vomiting violently.

Stella had seen her friend fly down the hallway and ran after her. "Lindsay?" she called once she was in the bathroom. She heard the sound of retching and followed it to the stall. Luckily, Lindsay hadn't locked the door. Stella squeezed into the small space that definitely wasn't meant for two people and crouched down, comforting the young woman as best as she could. Finally she stopped throwing up and took a deep breath. "You ok?" Stella asked, standing up.

"Yeah," Lindsay managed to say, her face red and puffy. They both left the stall. Lindsay went to the sink to rinse out her mouth.

"Sure?" Stella asked.

"Under the circumstances, yes," Lindsay said quietly.

"If you need me, I'm right here," Stella told her.

"Thanks," she said, truly grateful.

* * *

Mac was surprised when he came back a few hours later and saw Lindsay working in the lab. "You don't have to work today," he told her. "You should go home."

"No!" Lindsay exclaimed, the thought of being at home without Danny bringing tears to her eyes. "No," she said again, more quietly and composed this time, "I'd rather stay busy with work," she told him.

"Ok," Mac respected her wishes. "Work it is."

**A/N So there we go. Weird ending, I know. Sorry.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	8. Chapter 8

Weeks passed and nobody heard anything from Danny. _No news is good news_, Lindsay kept telling herself. She was having a hard time adjusting to living alone, something she hadn't done in years. On the rare occasion she was able to fall asleep at night, she always woke up within the hour, the fact that Danny's arms weren't around her painfully obvious. She'd cry and cry until she lulled herself into a fitful sleep.

"Hey, Lindsay!" Stella called her friend who was walking down the hallway a couple of yards in front of her.

The young women turned around. "Yeah?" She said somewhat distractedly.

"Let's go out to lunch," she suggested.

"I have to drop this off at the lab," Lindsay protested. She really didn't want to go out to eat.

Hawkes was walking down the hall just then. "Hey, Doc, could you run this down to the lab for Lindsay?" she snatched the file out of her friend's hand and gave it to Sheldon.

"Sure thing," Hawkes said with a smile, "you guys heading to lunch?"

"Yes," Stella said.

"No," Lindsay scowled.

"You are too," Stella said.

"It'll be good for you," Sheldon agreed.

"Fine," Lindsay grumbled. "But we'd better make this quick. I'm really behind on paperwork and on top of that I have a big case I'm working on."

"It'll be the fastest lunch you've ever had," Stella assured her, grabbing Lindsay by the arm and dragging her towards to exit.

"Lindsay, you need to eat," Stella scolded gently twenty minutes later as Lindsay picked at her food.

"I'm not hungry," she insisted.

"You haven't been hungry for weeks," Stella said.

"Three weeks, four days," she checked her watch, "three hours and twenty two minutes," she clarified dully. "Do the math."

"Lindsay, this has got to stop. We're all worried about you! You don't eat, you don't smile and I know that you haven't been sleeping either."

"I can't sleep," Lindsay said, the tears welling up in her eyes threatening to fall. "I can't sleep without him here."

"You've got to get used to living alone for a while. This isn't healthy." Stella's voice rang with concern.

"I don't want to," she said stubbornly.

"Tough luck," Stella shot back. Lindsay scowled. "Look," she said gently, "I know this is hard for you, it's hard for everybody, but especially you. But just because Danny isn't going to be here for a while you shouldn't stop living your life."

"He is my life," she said through clenched teeth. "I have no life without him."

"That's not true. You always have me and Mac and Don and Sheldon. Your team is always here for you."

"Danny's part of the team. He's not here for me right now." Lindsay just wouldn't let go.

"Shut up about Danny!" Stella burst out. "Get over yourself, will you? You miss him, we know! I miss him too! Mac misses him, Don misses him, Sheldon misses him! You don't see us having a pity party 24/7 now do you? Get a grip, Lindsay."

Lindsay looked at her friend, her expression blank, her eyes narrowed. "Thank you for lunch, Stella," she said calmly. Throwing a wad of cash on the table, she stood up and left.

"Lindsay!" Stella called after her, feeling very guilty for her outburst

Lindsay ignored her and kept walking.

* * *

"How was lunch?" Sheldon asked when Lindsay joined him in the lab.

"Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "Just great."

"Something wrong?" Sheldon raised his eyebrow. Lindsay hadn't been herself lately and he was growing concerned for her health.

"My husband is dead, for all we know, due to this freaking undercover stint that I asked him not to go on, Stella thinks I'm being self-centered and obnoxious and I have no leads on my case," Lindsay exclaimed. "Yes, I am fine!" She said sarcastically, walking out the door and slamming it behind her.

* * *

"Lindsay," Mac poked his head into her office later that day, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Knock yourself out," Lindsay said, barely glancing up from her paperwork.

Mac walked into her office and closed the door. "Mind if I sit?" he asked, ever the polite gentleman.

"Sure," Lindsay said, putting down the file she had been reading over.

"Lindsay, we're all worried about you," he said quietly.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "What is this, Worry about Lindsay Friday? I'm fine, Mac."

"No, you're not," he told her.

She scowled, something she seemed to be doing a lot today. "Under the circumstances, I'm fine," she clarified.

"No, under the circumstances you're not fine," he insisted. "I haven't seen you eat a single thing since Danny left. Nor have I seen you smile. And I can just tell that you're not getting enough sleep."

"Are you and Stella telepathic or do you just talk about me a lot?" she grumbled.

"Both," Mac said with a slight smile. Lindsay didn't smile. "Seriously, though, you have got to stop this self destructive behavior."

Lindsay scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm drinking all the time or getting high or cutting myself or something. I just don't have an appetite anymore. Eating doesn't sound good, it makes me feel sick."

Mac thought about Lindsay's recent mood swings, and all the vomiting. She'd thrown up three more times since Danny left. Up until now, he figured it was just a physical reaction to Danny being gone, but he began to add two and two together. "Lindsay," he said cautiously, "are you pregnant?"

"What?" she asked. This was so not the conversation she wanted to be having with her boss.

"All the signs seem to add up. You've been vomiting in the mornings, you've been irritable, no offence, and you haven't wanted to eat. It could all be signs of pregnancy."

"It could also just be me missing Danny," she said, refusing to admit that he might be right.

"Lindsay, if you are pregnant, you need to go to a doctor. You need to eat, or else you'll be endangering your life and the life of your child."

Lindsay sighed. "I am a week late," she admitted finally.

"Call your doctor," he said getting up, "that's an order. Take Stella with you," he suggested.

"No, I'd rather go alone," she insisted.

"Lindsay," Mac chided.

"Don't 'Lindsay' me," she grumbled. "I don't want Stella to come."

"You are not going alone. Either Stella or Flack," Mac said, hoping that would convince her.

"Flack," Lindsay said simply. "He is Danny's best friend, after all."

"Ok," Mac said, "If that's what you really want, I'll talk to him."

"That's what I really want. Stella and I aren't on the best of terms right now. Besides, I don't want everybody in the office to think I'm a lesbian or something." If it had been the old Lindsay, she would have smiled at her joke, but the old Lindsay was gone for now. New Lindsay kept a straight face.

* * *

"You don't find this weird, do you?" Lindsay asked Flack a few days later as they waited in the doctor's office.

"A little," he admitted, "but I'm ok with it. Danny wouldn't want you to have to come alone."

"Thank you," Lindsay said softly, "I know I haven't exactly been Daisy Sunshine these last couple of weeks. Thanks for not acting like my shrink. And thank you for being here."

"No problem," Don said, and meant it. Lindsay was like a sister to him and he'd do anything to keep her happy.

"Lindsay Messer?" the nurse called. Lindsay and Don stood up and followed her to room two.

Lindsay sat where the nurse told her to and Don stood next to her. "You can sit down," Lindsay told him.

"I'm fine," he assured her.

The nurse asked Lindsay a few general health questions and took a few vitals. "Dr. Holden will be in any minute to see you," she said cheerfully and left the room.

Dr. Holden swept into the room a few minutes later. She was a plain looking thirty something with a pleasant smile. She shook Lindsay's hand. "Hi, Ms. Messer, I'm Dr. Holden," she glanced at Don, "Is this the father?"

Lindsay bit her lip uncomfortably, "No, um, Don's just a friend. My husband was…unable to be here. Is that alright?" she asked nervously.

"Of course," Dr. Holden smiled, "are you ready to find out if you're having a baby?"

Lindsay nodded shyly.

Dr. Holden began her examination. Lindsay fought back tears the entire time, wishing that Danny could be there.

"I'm going to go run these to the lab," the doctor said, referring to the samples she'd taken from Lindsay. "I'll be back in a flash with your results."

Dr. Holden came back pretty quickly. "Congratulations," she said, looking at her clipboard. "You are going to be a mother!"

The tears fell then. She'd tried so hard to keep them in, but she just couldn't any longer. A baby. She was having a baby and Danny didn't even know.

"Can we go now?" Don asked, pretty sure he knew what Lindsay was thinking.

"Sure," the doctor said, "just make sure she calls to make an appointment in the next few weeks. We need to keep track of that baby," she said with a grin. "You can say in here a moment to let the information process, if you want." With that, Dr. Holden slipped out the door and onto her next patient.

"You alright?" Don asked her gently.

"Danny wanted a baby," she said through her tears, "he promised we could start trying the minute he got back."

"Well now you won't have to," Don said with a grin on his face, "he'll have a pregnant wife waiting for him when he comes home."

"What if he's not back in time?" Lindsay's eyes grew wide. "I can't do this by myself, Don! I just can't."

"You won't have to," he assured her. "I'll be right here the whole time, and so will Mac, Stella and Doc." He pulled her into a gentle hug. "It'll all be ok, Lindsay, I promise you."

Lindsay wiped away her tears. "Thank you, Don." With a sniff, she and Don exited the room, heads held high.

**A/N It's a baby! You guys were right. I apologize…I have no idea how the process of finding out if you're pregnant goes. I made that all up. And, for those of you who were wondering, this story is going to focus mostly on Lindsay's side, since, well to put it bluntly, I kinda suck at writing the kind of stuff that Danny is going through. He'll pop in every now and then, I think, but mostly it'll focus on Lindsay and her reaction to the whole ordeal. End insanely long A/N**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	9. Chapter 9

A knock on the door woke Lindsay from her fitful slumber on the couch. Danny? She shook her head, of course it wasn't Danny. She knew better than that. Yet, she couldn't help but wish that it were. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she padded to the door and checked the peephole before opening it. Stella. She sighed. She and Stella hadn't spoken since the day they had lunch.

She opened the door. "What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to keep the irritation out of her voice.

Stella winced at the tone of voice her friend used, but extended her hand, which had a grocery bag in it. "Peace offering?" she asked timidly.

Lindsay hesitated. She didn't want to just give in, but she hated not speaking to her best friend. "Depends," she said. "What's in it?"

Stella smiled. "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream, Sour Skittles and Doritos," she said, listing Lindsay's top three favorite comfort foods.

"Come on in," she said, stepping aside.

Stella sighed with relief and did as she was told. "Want me to put the ice cream in the freezer?" she asked.

"Don't even think about it," Lindsay told her, "I'm eating that. Now. Out of the carton."

"Hey, it's all yours, Linds, go for it," Stella smiled, handing her the bag.

Lindsay peeked inside. Just as Stella had promised, a carton of ice cream, a huge bag of Sour Skittles and a bag of Doritos lay inside.

Lindsay grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and motioned for Stella to follow her to the living room.

"Lindsay," Stella blurted out the moment they sat down, "I'm really sorry."

"I know you are," Lindsay said, digging into the ice cream.

"I was PMSing and I was angry and I was missing Danny too," she said all in one breath.

"I know," Lindsay sighed, "I was being selfish and just thinking about myself. I should have realized that everybody else was feeling the same way I was."

Stella smiled. "So, we're ok now, right? Because I really, really hate fighting with you."

"Yeah, we're ok. And I feel the same way."

Stella reached over and hugged her friend.

"I'm pregnant!" Lindsay blurted out. The only people who had known up until that point were Mac, Don and her doctor. She'd made Mac and Don swear to secrecy until she was ready. Now that she and Stella were speaking, she couldn't hold it back another moment.

"Really? Lindsay, that's great!" Stella gushed. "How long have you known?"

"About a week and a half," she said.

"Have you gone to the doctor yet?"

"Yeah, Don took me last week," Lindsay said.

"Well I'm glad you didn't have to go alone," Stella smiled.

"I liked having him there. He is Danny's best friend, after all, and Don really wants to be involved since Danny can't be here."

"That makes sense," Stella told her.

"So you're not mad I asked him to go instead of you?" Lindsay asked, biting her lip. This was the part she'd been worried about.

"Of course not," Stella said honestly, "besides, if I went with you, they might think we were lesbians or something."

Lindsay burst out laughing. "That's what I told Mac!" she told her friend, trying to catch her breath.

Stella had to laugh at that. "Great minds think alike," she quoted.

"I guess so," Lindsay said.

Once their laughter had subsided, Stella grew serious once more. "How are you doing?" she asked her friend gently.

"I'm ok, I guess," Lindsay said, tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of her husband. "I just really wish Danny was here."

"I know, I know," Stella said soothingly, "This must be hard for you."

"He's going to have a son or daughter in a few months and he doesn't even know!" Lindsay said, beginning to cry a little. "What if he's not back in time?" she voiced one of her greatest fears. It was second only to Danny not coming back at all.

"He'll be back before the baby is born," Stella assured her.

"How do you know?" Lindsay asked, wiping away a tear.

"I don't," Stella admitted, "but you've got to believe that he will."

Lindsay nodded bravely and wiped away the rest of her tears with the back of her hand. "Do you want to watch a movie or something?" she asked, sniffling a little.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea. You choose."

Stella chose a movie and popped it into the DVD player. Lindsay cracked open the bag of Doritos and enjoyed feeling almost like a normal person for the first time in weeks.

* * *

Danny stared at the picture of Lindsay that he kept in his wallet. It was a risky thing to do, but he knew that he couldn't make it through these next few months without her in some form. He longingly traced his finger over her face, across her lips, almost able to feel her warm skin beneath her fingers. He missed her so much.

There was a rap on the door that he was to call his. "Danny!" a man's voice called through the door.

"Comin'!" Danny called back. Hurriedly he stuffed the picture back into his wallet. "I love you, Montana," he whispered.

**A/N Very short, I know. But I did give you a little snippet into what Danny's going through. Sorry about the shortness and lameness. My muse has run off. Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	10. Chapter 10

Lindsay had the news playing as she ate breakfast before work, but wasn't paying any attention. She made herself eat a few more Cheerios before dumping the rest of them down the drain. Her morning sickness made her want to skip eating altogether, but she'd learned from experience that not eating made her feel even worse. She rinsed out the bowl and was putting it into the dishwasher when she heard the newscaster say something of interest. Tanglewood Boys. Those two words prompted Lindsay to rush over to the television. Without even thinking she grabbed the remote and pushed the record button. Thank heavens for satellite TV.

"A fight was started in Central Park late last night," the charismatic reporter said with a grim expression on his face, "Authorities tell us that it was a local gang, the Tanglewood Boys, who were the cause of this incident. We go now to Madeline Callaghan in the field. Madeline?"

"Thanks, David," the beautiful, blonde reporter said with a smile. "Just last night this area of our beloved Central Park was being terrorized by the Tanglewood Boys. In recent months the gang has become more and more violent, as shown by the destruction evident in this area." She swept her hand around, gesturing to the tipped over benches and trashcans, the garbage littering the ground. "As far as we can tell there were no injuries among the members of the Tanglewood boys. Officers who tried to break up the fight and a few civilians, including one of our own reporters, sustained minor injuries, however. Luckily, nobody was seriously injured and my dear friend and colleague, Allison Williams, will be back on the job in no time." She smiled gently. "Back to you David."

Lindsay tapped her foot impatiently as David said a few remarks in reference to the reporter who had been sent to the hospital. She wanted footage of the incident, a photo, anything! "It's fortunate to us that we were able to get some footage of last night's outbreak," David said, earning Lindsay's undivided attention once more. The screen cut to a mob of people shouting and hitting one another. One man was on the outskirts of the group, just involved enough so as to not arise suspicion, but not really putting his whole heart into it either. Lindsay squinted and moved closer. It looked like it could be Danny, but she wasn't quite sure. The camera zoomed in a little farther in his direction and Lindsay began to cry as she realized that it was, in fact, her husband.

With a sigh of relief she slumped onto the couch. He was alive. Just seeing his face had lightened the feelings of grief and worry that she'd been carrying around for nearly two months now. Instinctively she put a hand on her stomach. She'd developed a habit of doing this every time she was thinking about Danny. It was her way of reminding herself that he was always with her – literally.

She'd decided in the last two weeks that this baby wasn't coming at such an inconvenient time after all. Now she knew that no matter what happened, no matter when – or if, she shuddered – he came back, she'd still have a little part of him with her all the time.

She rewound the recording she had made of the news show to the part where it zoomed in on Danny's face. Then she paused it. It was slightly blurry and he wasn't looking right into the camera, but it was Danny. Sure, he wasn't smirking as he did so much of the time, he actually looked rather angry, but it was enough for her.

Leaving the TV frozen where it was, she flounced into the bathroom to shower and get dressed. For the first time since Danny had left she actually put time and effort into her appearance. She picked a shirt that she knew he loved and the slacks that looked the best on her. Not a single hair was out of place and her skin glowed with a radiance that had only been present on one other day – her wedding day. She finished it off with a spray of the perfume Danny had bought her for her birthday and a pair of strappy heels.

She felt like singing as she walked to the subway. It felt like one of those moments in Disney movies where the birds are tweeting and the little bunny rabbits hopping along and the beautiful princess just bursts into song, not having a care in the world. She earned strange looks from sullen commuters in the subway because of her constant smiling and cheerful disposition. The subway car was packed and when a feeble old woman boarded and couldn't find a seat free, Lindsay sprang up out of hers and offered it to the woman.

Lindsay practically danced into the lab that morning. "Did you see it?" Stella squealed the moment she spotted her.

Lindsay grinned and nodded energetically. She rushed up to Stella and hugged her. "You were right," she said, "everything will be ok."

"Never doubt me again, Linds," Stella joked.

"I won't," Lindsay promised.

Flack walked up to their little celebration and was very confused. "Is it somebody's birthday that I don't know about?" he asked, his blue eyes darting from one female coworker to the other.

"Didn't you see it?" Lindsay asked, breathlessly.

"See what?" Flack asked with a frown on his face. He knew women were strange, but he was seriously hoping that this wasn't about Grey's Anatomy or something. He recalled a moment a few months back when he'd walked into the break room to find Lindsay and Stella tearfully recalling a particularly touching episode of ER.

"The news!" Stella explained, exasperated.

"What's goin' on?" Flack asked. "Is Brad Pitt shootin' a movie in New York or somethin'?" He really hoped he was wrong.

"No!" Lindsay laughed. "Danny!"

This got Flack's attention. "What about him?"

"There was a fight in Central Park last night! The Tanglewood Boys were there and a news crew got part of it on film. He's ok, Flack, Danny's alive and kicking!" Lindsay told him.

Don swept both Stella and Lindsay into his arms as he let out a little whoop. "Here that, Herbie, Daddy's alright," he addressed Lindsay's stomach.

"Don, really, will you stop calling him or her Herbie? You're going to confuse the baby!" Lindsay protested.

Flack just squeezed them harder.

**A/N Yay. Happy news. Ok, quick question, would it be not ok for me to give the baby the same first name that I was going to give Danny and Lindsay's baby in another story I'm working on? You're thoughts are always appreciated.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	11. Chapter 11

There were days when Danny contemplated just ditching this whole undercover thing. Some days he tried to log everything that happened to him in his brain so that when this was all over with and life went back to normal he could write a best selling book called My Days in the Life of a Mobster that would make millions so that he and Lindsay could buy an island in the Caribbean and never work another day. But everyday he thought about Lindsay. Every second of every minute of every day he thought about her.

The incident in Central Park had been his idea. He'd convinced the rest of the guys that New York City was stereotyping them, giving them a bad rep. What better place to get even than Central Park? Really, he had just hoped that it would attract the media so that maybe they'd get him on camera so that Lindsay would know that he was alright.

He knew this was hard on her. He knew that she probably wondered every day if she was ever going to see him again. Being in the dark was probably what was the most difficult for her. She was the kind of person who liked knowing what was going on, when it was going on and where it was going on.

"Hey, Messer!" Antonio called from the living room. He and Danny were sharing an apartment, much to Danny's disgust. The guy was a slob and the place smelled worse than any dumpster he'd had to dive in.

Danny went into the living room to see what his pig of a roommate wanted. "Yeah?"

"Weren't you a CSI before you came back to the dark side?" Antonio asked with a really annoying smirk on his face.

"Yeah, why?" Danny asked, trying to make it look like he didn't care.

Antonio didn't answer, he simply gestured to the TV with his beer can. Ironically enough it was tune to the same news station that Lindsay had seen Danny on just days before. The same blonde, dimpled reporter, David Montgomery was reporting on yet another tragedy in the city. "Members of the Crime Scene Investigation team were injured when a small explosion occurred at a crime scene. The bomb was ticking away inside the body of a local butcher. It exploded while two investigators, Sheldon Hawkes and Lindsay Monroe were processing around the body." Danny's heart began to pound a little faster, not only because Lindsay could be hurt, but also because they'd referred to her as Lindsay Monroe, not Lindsay Messer. He knew it was for both of their safety, but it still hurt to hear.

"Both detectives were sent to the hospital with minor injuries," David Montgomery said as pictures of Lindsay and Sheldon flashed up on the screen. "Dr. Hawkes received treatment for a minor concussion. Ms. Monroe was treated for minor burns and a cut on her arm. Luckily her unborn child was not harmed."

Danny paid no attention to the rest of the report. His mind was flooded with the sight of Lindsay and the words 'unborn child.' That meant a baby. His baby. It meant he was going to be a dad and he hadn't even known. He was going to be a father and he couldn't even be there for her during the pregnancy.

"Messer!" Antonio had been trying desperately to get his attention.

"Hmm? What?" Danny was snapped back to reality.

"You alright?" Antonio looked at him strangely.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Danny brushed it off. "Think I'm gettin' a migraine or somethin', that's all."

"Oh." This explanation was good enough for the simple minded Tanglewood Boy.

"I think I'm gonna turn in for the night," Danny announced.

"Whatever," Antonio said, turning his attention back to the TV.

Danny went back into his room and lay down on the bed. He took his glasses off and laid them on the bedside table. A lone tear fell from his eye. It hurt so badly that he couldn't be there for her. He wished the timing could have been a little better. He almost laughed recalling his promise that they could start trying for a baby when he got home. Now they wouldn't have to.

He didn't want her to be alone. On the night before his wedding he'd talked to Flack about Lindsay and his fear of her being alone.

"If anything should ever happen to me, or I can't be there for any reason, you've gotta take care of her, got it?" He'd half told, half threatened his friend.

"I promise, Danny," Flack said. Danny was his best friend and Lindsay was like a sister to him. He'd never let her be alone or hurting.

He'd better be living up to that now, Danny decided, or else he'd pay later.

**A/N Yeah, it's short, but it has Danny in it! ******** Keep those ideas's coming!**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks to Tigerkat51 for giving me the inspiration for the first half of this chapter! Oh, and while I'm thanking people, thank you to all of you who have reviewed and given me feedback/ideas. They are all greatly ****appreciated!**

Lindsay had grown to hate her days off. They were depressing and lonely. She'd done everything she could possibly think of to keep her mind off Danny on those long, boring days at home. She'd cleaned the apartment top to bottom and arranged her clothing by style and then by color. She'd babysat the bratty kids next door, went shopping for feeble old Mrs. Mulligan on the 3rd floor and spent and entire day watching sappy chick flicks (the kind that Danny hated with a burning passion) while consuming her entire body weight in popcorn, chips and soda.

So on this particular day off, she was left with nothing but to twiddle her thumbs while sitting on the couch watching reality show reruns. She made it through one and a half home renovation shows before a stroke of brilliance hit her. Why hadn't she thought of that before? With a smile on her face she leapt off the couch and hopped into the shower.

Enter away message text here.Within half an hour she was out the door. Her short hairstyle provided for easy drying and the place she was going called for little makeup. She hailed a cab and told the driver the address.

"You sure you wanna go there?" the cabbie asked, a frown on his face. He didn't go to that part of town if he could help it.

"I'm sure," she said confidently.

"Whateva'," he said.

There was no more conversation as the driver took Lindsay to her destination. Lindsay stared out the window and watched as the houses grew more and more run down, the beautiful gardens shriveling and then disappearing. Finally he pulled up in front of her destination, a dilapidated apartment building that had seen better days.

"Thanks!" she paid the driver and scurried into the apartment. The building didn't have any elevators, due to its old, rundown state, so she had to climb up four flights of stairs. It was worth it though.

With a smile on her face, she knocked on her mother in law's door. Rosalia Messer answered the door and a smile that matched Lindsay's immediately lit up her features. "Lindsay, dear, come in!" she exclaimed happily, hugging her daughter in law tightly.

Lindsay willingly followed Rosie into the apartment and settled on her ratty - yet incredibly comfortable – sofa. "How have you been, Lindsay?" Rosie asked gently.

"I've been better," she admitted. Unable to contain news any longer she announced, "I have something to tell you."

"Happy news, I hope?" Rosie asked warily. With her husband dead, her eldest son in a vegetative state and her baby boy undercover with a horrible group of men, she couldn't handle any bad news these days.

Lindsay smiled. "Very good news," she rested a hand on her barely protruding stomach. "You're going to be a Grandma!" she squealed.

"Oh! I thought the day would never come!" Rosie exclaimed. A tear glistened in her eye. "Danny doesn't know, does he?" she asked quietly.

"No, I didn't find out until after he left," Lindsay told her ruefully. "When I got hurt on the job a few weeks ago they did a news segment on it, and I had the newscaster say something about the baby." Lindsay had called Rosie to tell her about the accident, but failed to mention the baby at that time. She wanted to tell her in person. "Maybe he saw it," Lindsay said hopefully.

"I'm sure he did," Rosie assured her. "And if for some reason he didn't, he'll just have a surprise waiting for him when he gets home."

"Yeah," Lindsay said, sorrow evident in her voice.

"Oh, come now, child, I didn't mean to make you sad."

Lindsay managed a weak smile. "I know. I just miss him so much." A tear threatened to trail down her face.

"I do too, Lindsay, but you've just got to be strong."

Lindsay nodded. "Thanks, Rosie."

* * *

"Lindsay!" Hawkes called to her in the hallway. 

Lindsay stopped and waited for her coworker to catch up to her. "What's up?" she asked.

"DB in Central Park," he informed her. "Mac wants us to take it."

"Ok," she said, "Just give me a minute to grab my stuff."

Half an hour later, the two arrived at the scene. A teenage girl had been brutally beaten, leaving her face unrecognizable. Lindsay cringed at the sight, but told herself to be strong. She still hated the teenage girl cases more than anything else; she figured that that would never change and that it'd be that way for the rest of her life. Hawkes noticed her hesitancy and asked if she was ok.

"I'm fine," she lied.

He didn't press the matter any further, which was what Danny would have done. She tried not to think about that, and focused on her job.

She snapped pictures of the girl while Hawkes processed the scene around the body. Lindsay walked around the girl to take pictures of her bare, mutilated feet. Her foot caught on a tree root and she cried out as she fell to the ground.

Hawkes immediately rushed to her side. She'd fallen on her stomach and she immediately started crying, not because she was hurting, but because she was afraid the baby was hurt.

"Shh, Lindsay, it's alright," Hawkes soothed, "Does anything hurt?"

Lindsay shook her head. "The baby," she managed to get out.

"I'll call Mac," Hawkes told her. "We should get you to the hospital to get an ultrasound."

After making a few phone calls, Hawkes lifted Lindsay easily into his arms and carried her to the car. Uniformed cops stayed to keep the scene secure until Mac was able to arrive.

Hawkes rushed to the hospital and into the ER. There was a long line of patients waiting to see a doctor and the sight of a full waiting room made Lindsay panic. "My baby," she whimpered, holding a protective arm over her stomach.

"Calm down, Lindsay, it's not good for the baby for you to be stressing like this," he told her. Immediately Lindsay was quiet.

The combination of Sheldon being a doctor and Lindsay being a cop inspired the doctors to see her sooner. They called Lindsay's OB and began the ultrasound.

"The baby is in distress," the curly haired doctor informed Lindsay sadly. At the look of shock, horror and dismay on Lindsay's face, she continued, "but with the proper precautions everything will be fine. You need to be on total bed rest for at least two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Lindsay asked faintly.

"Yes, two weeks," the doctor was paged out of the room with a promise to be back in a few minutes.

"Two weeks?" she asked again. "I don't think I can do that."

"This is you child we're talking about," Sheldon reminded her. "You want to do what's best for the baby, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Lindsay retorted, almost defensively.

"Then two weeks it is."

A/N Sorry about the delayed update. My muse left me temporarily. :( Reviews all around!

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	13. Chapter 13

"Flack!" Lindsay called from where she was propped up with pillows on her bed.

Flack entered the room immediately, ready to take care of whatever it was that Lindsay needed.

"Could you get me a drink of water?" she asked, somewhat apologetically. She really hated bossing him around like this, but he was insisting that she took her doctor's orders of 'complete bed rest' very literally. Under his watch, she was allowed only to get up to use the bathroom and to shower. Her meals were served to her in bed, he ran her errands and made sure that she had everything she could possibly need.

"Your wish is my command," he said gallantly and fled to the kitchen to get her a glass. Most women would love this princess treatment, but Lindsay found it boring, demeaning to her independence and slightly embarrassing.

The whole team took turns watching out for Lindsay. During the day there was always at least one of her coworkers in the apartment with her, and Flack slept on the couch nearly every night, much to Lindsay's protest. He seemed to be taking this all into his own hands.

"Flack, you don't have to do this, you know," Lindsay told him when he returned with her water.

"Yes, I do," he insisted.

"Don, you're doing twice as much as anybody else is!"

"I have to do this," he said.

"Why?"

"Can I sit?" Flack gestured towards the edge of the bed. When Lindsay gave her nod of approval, he gingerly sat down, trying his hardest not to disturb the rest of the bed. "The night before you and Danny got married I made him a promise."

"What kind of promise?" Lindsay pried.

Flack sighed. "He told me not to tell you," he said through clenched teeth.

"Flack, I need to know. Please?" Lindsay said this so innocently that Don couldn't deny her.

"I promised him that if anything ever happened to him, or he couldn't be here for you for whatever reason that I'd look after you."

At first Lindsay was touched. It was great to know that Danny was looking out for her all the time without her even realizing it. After she though about it for a moment she became irritated, then slightly angry. "What makes you think I need looking after?" she exclaimed.

"Under the circumstances you do." Flack told her.

"What do you mean, 'under the circumstances'?" Lindsay scowled.

Don rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that. You know exactly what I mean."

Lindsay insisted on being stubborn. "No, I don't."

"Linds, you're on complete bed rest. If you strain yourself too much, you could lose your baby," he said quietly.

Hearing this coming from Don made Lindsay go quiet. "I just don't like feeling so powerless and dependant on everybody else," she said crossly.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Linds. Most women would love this!"

"Do I seem like I'm like most women, Don?" Lindsay raised an eyebrow.

"Naw," Don said sheepishly, standing up. "Anything else you need? I have to be at work in a little while. Stella's gonna come over when her shift ends."

Lindsay handed him a DVD case. "Will you put this in the DVD Player for me?" she asked.

"Sure thing," Don said, performing the duty he was given. "That it?"

"Could you get the Doritos from the pantry for me before you leave?"

Don smiled as he went to fetch Lindsay's favorite snack. She went through at least half a bag of Doritos every two or three days and he was constantly running to the store to buy more. It was the one food that she never got sick of. "Sure you're ok?"

"Positive, Don. Thanks." Without Don there to keep her company, Lindsay turned her attention to the TV and attempted to concentrate on the movie playing. Despite Danny's monstrous DVD collection, she found herself watching the same movies over and over again. Some she avoided because she was too scared to watch them alone, some were the action/adventure crap that she hated, but most of them were labeled as "Danny Movies" in her brain. They were the ones that she'd seen for the first time with him, or had more fond memories than usual tied to them. Those ones were strictly off limits. As a result, she been cycling through the same 15 movies since he'd left.

"Lindsay! It's me!" Stella yelled, letting herself into the apartment.

"In my room!" Lindsay yelled back, chuckling to herself. She'd given this reply every single time her friend arrived at the house, simply to humor herself.

"Never would've guessed," Stella smiled. "I come bearing gifts," she announced, holding up the grocery bags in her arms as proof.

"What is it this time?" Lindsay asked.

Stella rummaged through the bags, pulling out her trophies one by one. "Sour Patch Kids -"

"Much better than the straws," Lindsay interjected, earning a nod from Stella.

"- Double Stuffed Oreos, Peanut M&M's, mustard pretzels and Twizzlers." As the food bag was empty she moved on to the other bag. "I thought we'd have a Sandra Bullock fest today."

"Good idea," Lindsay told her.

"So, I have the classics: _While You Were Sleeping, Speed, Two Weeks Notice _and _Miss Congeniality _as well as its lame sequel, just for good measure."

"Thanks, Stella," Lindsay said gratefully. She gestured to the movie that was currently playing. "I've seen this movie about a thousand times in the last week and a half."

"I figured," Stella laughed. "I noticed that a lot of the movies are off limits," she added quietly.

"They're Danny's favorites," Lindsay admitted. "Or one's I saw for the first time with him, or really scary ones that I can't watch without him here."

"Well, Danny hates chick flicks, so I say go for it!"

Lindsay smiled. "Definitely."

"What first?" Stella asked, fanning the five cases out for Lindsay to take her pick.

Lindsay thought about it for a moment. "_Miss Congeniality_," she decided.

"Good choice, my friend, good choice." Stella popped the disc into the player and settled next to Lindsay on the couch.

"Flack's going overboard," Lindsay told her as the movie started to play.

"You're his best friend's wife," Stella defended.

"That doesn't mean he has to put his life on hold for me."

"He's just looking out for you. He loves you like a sister and would do anything for you. Besides, Danny'd kill him if Don didn't do everything he could to make you comfortable."

"And how would you know all this information, Stella?" Lindsay asked sweetly, raising an eyebrow.

Stella flushed. "He's my friend. We talk." She stammered.

"Then why are you blushing?"

"Ok, so maybe we have a thing." By now _Miss Congeniality_ was long forgotten.

"Define 'a thing,'" Lindsay requested.

"We've, um," Stella faked a cough, "been dating for three months?" She posed this as a question, not a statement.

"STELLA!" Lindsay squealed. "Why didn't you tell me?" 

Stella looked uncomfortable. "You were worried about Danny and the baby… I didn't want to bother you."

"You wouldn't be bothering me. Don't ever feel like you can't tell me something, ok?"

"Alright," Stella promised.

"Now, let's watch Gracie Lou Freebush kick some butt!"

A/N Ew. So sorry. Lame ending. Chopping dialogue. Once again, my muse has abandoned me. Sorry for the delay. Review anyway? As always, any ideas you have are greatly appreciated.

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	14. Chapter 14

"Hey, Messer," Antonio greeted Danny gruffly from his post at the kitchen table. "Where've ya been?"

"Oh, you know," Danny smirked.

"You was out all night," Antonio said. He wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. "Oh!" Realization dawned on him and he smiled. "Was she hot?"

"Smokin'," Danny lied. The truth was that he wasn't with a girl last night at all. He was filling in an informant about the Tanglewood Boy's upcoming drug deal. Luckily for him, he was able to do this without his roommate or fellow gang members being suspicious. All he had to do was say that he picked up a chick at a bar and he had an iron clad alibi.

"Wish I could get laid," Antonio said ruefully. Not only was he not very bright, he wasn't the most attractive guy either. His lack of personal hygiene and propriety sealed the deal for nine out of ten girls.

"You will, man, you will." This was the only response Danny could come up with. He couldn't use the 'someday the right girl will come along' line, and the only other option he could think of was prostitution. _Get me out of here!_ He silently begged whoever was listening.

* * *

"Hello, Mrs. Messer, Mr. Flack," Dr. Holden greeted them as she walked into the room. After several lame 'my husband can't make it' excuses, Lindsay had finally told her doctor the truth. Well, part of it at least. She'd simply said that her husband was a police officer and was currently doing undercover work and that Flack was a very close friend who'd offered to accompany her so she wouldn't have to go alone.

"We're going to do another ultrasound today," Dr. Holden informed Lindsay. "You know the drill."

It'd been two weeks since Dr. Holden had cleared her to go back to work with a promise from Lindsay, Flack and Mac that she'd stay in the lab and wouldn't do any more field work. It was hard on her, but she'd rather be filling out paperwork than lying home all day long.

"There's the baby!" Dr. Holden exclaimed excitedly. "Do you want to know what it is?" she asked.

"No," Lindsay responded immediately. "I want to wait until Danny gets home."

The doctor smiled, understanding the young women's logic. "Alright then. All you need to know is that you have a very healthy baby."

Lindsay smiled. "Thank you, Dr. Holden."

* * *

It was late. It was late and Lindsay was tired and somebody was knocking on her door and wouldn't stop. "Coming!" she yelled crossly. Seriously, didn't people call these days? Technology is an amazing thing; take advantage of it every once in a while! She swung the door open and there stood Danny. Her eyes widened in surprise as she flung herself into his arms. He walked into the apartment, closing the door behind him and brought her close to him once again. Her face tilted towards his to receive his kiss, but before their lips could touch somebody knocked on the door again. It grew louder and louder.

Lindsay woke up with a start. Her heart sank when she realized it had just been a dream. Somebody really was knocking on the door, though. She swung her legs over the side of the couch where she'd been sleeping and headed towards the door. She opened it cautiously and was slightly disappointed to see that it was Mac. She hadn't been expecting Danny, but after her dream she had allowed herself to hope.

"Hey, Mac," Lindsay said, a frown of confusion on her face. "You want to come in?"

Mac eyed her messy ponytail and rumpled sweats. "Did I wake you?"

"Yeah." She had learned early on not to ever lie to Mac, even about the small things. "But it's ok. It's probably best."

"Why? It's nearly midnight. You should be sleeping."

"So should you," Lindsay countered.

Mac smiled. "That's true."

Lindsay and Mac sat down on the couch awkwardly.

"So how are you?" Mac asked.

"Fine," Lindsay told him, wondering why in the world he came to her apartment at midnight to ask her this when he could just ask her at work.

"Ok, so I know that this is kind of weird. Me coming here at midnight," he clarified.

"Just a little," Lindsay admitted.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Mac told her quietly.

Lindsay frowned. "What for?"

"Well, it was me who convinced Danny to take this job in the first place. And, I haven't been as supportive as everybody else has been."

"Mac, really, it's ok," Lindsay told him. "Yeah, this whole situation isn't the best, but it'll all work out in the end. I just know it will."

"Alright, but from now on I'm going to try and help you out a little more."

"Really, it's not necessary."

"Yes it is," Mac insisted. "If Flack can sleep on your couch every day for three weeks, then I can be there for you a little bit more."

Lindsay smiled. "Thanks, Mac."

**A/N Short, I know. And Mac is a little OOC. He's the hardest character for me to write. :) Oh, and this is totally random, but I just had to point out that Chapters 12 & 13 are exactly the same number of words (1233) How weird is that? I didn't do it on purpose or anything!  
**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	15. Chapter 15

"Everybody freeze!" Police officers swarmed the warehouse like a bunch of bees. Through all the noise and commotion all Danny could think was _Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay._ They didn't know he was a cop! What if they shot at him? He hadn't thought of this until that exact moment. Immediately he dropped the gun he held and put his hands in the air.

Tanglewood Boys ran for the exits; they tried their best to escape the police officers, but there were too many cops. Shots were fired and Danny ducked behind a stack of boxes to try and avoid the gunshots. The shooting soon stopped and he walked back out into the open.

"Hey! Don't take another step!" A tall cop in Kevlar pointed his gun at Danny, whose feet became cemented to the ground as he said that.

"I don't got a gun," Danny told him. Probably not the smartest thing he's said, he decided after the fact. Now they were going to think he really did.

The same officer approached Danny and patted him down to see if he had been telling the truth. He then cuffed him and led him roughly to a squad car.

When he reached the precinct, they shut him in an interrogation room, where he sat and waited for what must have been hours. Finally, a detective graced him with his presence. "I'm Detective Margot," he said shortly, taking a seat across from Danny.

"Danny Messer."

"Why were you in that warehouse, Mr. Messer?" The detective asked.

"Isn't that kinda obvious?" Danny asked shortly. "Listen, can I talk ta Officer Barry Lowe?"

"You're not in a position to be making requests, Mr. Messer," Detective Margot told him.

"It's important. Me an' him go way back."

"Like I said, you're not in any position to be making requests, regardless of your history with Officer Lowe." Detective Margot drummed his chubby fingers on the desk. "Now, why were you in that warehouse?"

"It was a drug deal, but I'm sure you figured that out from the ten kilos of coke you found."

"I don't like your attitude, Mr. Messer."

"I don't like that you won't let me see Officer Lowe," Danny knew that this behavior probably wasn't best for his situation, but Officer Lowe was the only one who knew he was an undercover cop.

Detective Margot gestured to the uniforms that stood in the room. "Take him away," he said in disgust.

"Listen, if you won't let me see Officer Lowe, at least tell him it was the Tanglewood Boys!" Danny told him urgently as the muscular cops pulled him away.

So there he sat on a cold, hard bench, in a prison cell, waiting for Officer Lowe to come and rescue him. He'd never actually been in jail before, and he didn't think it was a place he'd ever have to go. He'd discovered how boring it was. He just sat there, with nothing to do. They'd taken away his wallet, so he couldn't even stare at Lindsay's picture for hours on end like he'd done during those long nights as a Tanglewood Boy. He tried sleeping, but he was too restless.

He didn't know how long he'd been there. It felt like forever. Finally, a guard came in and got him. "You're comin' with me," he said gruffly.

"Where'm I goin'?" he asked, slightly disoriented.

The guard didn't say anything, just continued to pull him down a hallway. He punched a code in to get through a door that led them into a large room. There were a bunch of tables in the room and Danny thought he would cry when he saw Officer Lowe sitting at one of them.

"Danny, I am so sorry," Officer Lowe told him as Danny sat down across from him. "It took me forever to be able to get to you. Why didn't you tell them you're a cop?"

"I didn't think they'd believe me," Danny told him. "I asked to see you, though. The detective just got mad and said he didn't like my attitude and stuck me in a prison cell."

"Well, it's all over now," the officer told him. "We got what we needed."

"Are you sayin' I can go home?"

Officer Lowe smiled. "Yes, Danny, you can go home now. There's just a few forms you'll need to sign and then you can go." He stood up and Danny did the same. "Come on, there's somebody here I'm sure you'd like to see." He led Danny through a few more doors and hallways. Finally Danny saw the door that would lead him back to the real world. And, standing in front of that door was Flack.

Don couldn't stop smiling as he watched his best friend walk towards him. No words were uttered and all manly greetings were set aside as the two friends embraced. "It's good to see ya, Danno," Flack said.

"It's good ta see you too, Flack."

"It sure has been hard without havin' you around," Flack admitted. "Everybody's been a little out of whack for the last coupla months."

"When can I see Lindsay?" Danny was amazed that he hadn't blurted this out when he first saw Flack. "Is she ok? I saw that thing on the news about the accident a coupla months ago."

"You can see her soon, you just gotta sign some stuff."

As if on cue, Officer Lowe appeared next to him, holding a clipboard and a pen. He handed then to Danny, who scanned them quickly and scratched out a signature where the officer pointed.

"Can I go?"

Officer Lowe nodded his consent. "A squad car could take you, or Flack could."

"I'll go with Flack," Danny said hastily. All that mattered right now was seeing Lindsay.

Don led him to his car and Danny slid into the passenger seat.

"So you know about the baby?" Don asked, remembering that the news segment about the explosion had mentioned Lindsay's pregnancy.

Danny smiled. "Yeah, I do." They were silent for a moment. "Flack, do you remember that promise you made me the night before I got married?"

Don ginned. He'd wondered how long it would take Danny to bring that up. "Sure do, Messer. And I've been good to my word, I swear."

"You've taken care of her?"

"Yep. Been ta every doctor's appointment with her, slept on the couch when she was on bed rest, bought her probably fifty bags of Doritos."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, buddy. Bed rest?"

"Yeah, she fell at a crime scene last month. There was a little bleeding and her doctor put her on bed rest for a few weeks. But don't worry, Lindsay's fine and so is the baby."

Danny sighed with relief and then smiled. "Doritos, did you say?" Flack nodded. "I always know when she's on her period because she'll eat them by the ton."

"Yeah, it's worse now that she's pregnant. Good luck." Flack warned.

Danny didn't care. He didn't care if he had to get up at three o'clock in the morning every day for the rest of his life to go and fetch Lindsay Doritos. All that he wanted was to be with her and never have to leave her again.

Don pulled up to the lab. "She's working," Don told him. "And she doesn't know you're coming."

Danny sprang out of the car and practically ran into the building. He impatiently bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. He was so close, he could practically feel her presence. The elevator doors dinged open and he walked into the hallway as calmly as he could. Then he saw her and all the composure he had tried to build up diminished.

She was looking down at a file. She hadn't seen him yet, so he just stood there and waited for her to look up and make eye contact. She blinked several times and he could tell that she was making sure she wasn't imagining things.

"Montana."

A/N And we're gonna stop right there. Haha. I love doing this. Review and the next chapter will be up soon!

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	16. Chapter 16

Lindsay stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the figure a couple of yards away from her. She blinked several times to make sure she wasn't imagining it, for it wouldn't have been the first time she'd done so.

"Montana." It was just one simple word uttered from the mouth of her husband that caused her to literally run into his arms. He held her tightly and spun her around, inhaling the sweet scent of her hair. He stopped after a moment and set her gently back on the ground, still clinging to the woman in front of him.

"I missed you so much," she said, lifting her mouth to his to receive her first kiss from him in months. He responded urgently, not wanting to let the moment get away from them. If there was one thing he'd learned from this experience it was to savor every kiss, every glance, every touch, because they never knew when it would be taken away.

"Let's go into the break room," Danny suggested when their kissing grew a little too passionate for him to be comfortable putting on display in the middle of their workplace.

Stella was in the break room getting some coffee when the two entered. She hugged Danny quickly and told him how great it was to have him back. "I'll give you guys some time," she said, smiling as she slipped out the door, locking it on the way out so that they could have some privacy.

As soon as she was gone Danny pulled his wife into his arms once again and resumed where they'd left off in the hallway. "I love you," he whispered before nipping her ear gently.

"I love you too," she said, tears filling her eyes.

"Montana, what's wrong?" Danny asked, horrified.

Lindsay giggled. "Nothing," she assured him kissing him gently. "I'm just so happy that you're home. I really missed you." She buried her face in his chest, inhaling deeply.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Danny asked, a teasing smile on his face.

"Smelling you." Her voice was muffled a bit since she refused to remove her nose from such a great smelling place.

"I just get back after not seein' ya for months and you want to smell me?" he asked, that cocky smirk that she'd missed so much dancing across her face.

"Yep," she told him, finally lifting her face to his for another kiss. "You smell good."

"Do I now?" There was a familiar playful glint in Danny's eyes.

"Yeah. While you were gone I used your soap sometimes. When I was _really_ missing you, which was pretty much every day, I'd wear your shirts to bed so that I could smell you all night. It was the closest thing to having you there with me." Once again, tears lingered on her eyelashes, threatening to fall. She blinked several times and turned away from him.

"I don't think so," Danny caught her chin and turned her back to face him. The tears that slid down her face made his heart hurt, so he wiped them away with his thumbs and kissed her gently. "Shh," he crooned, "it's all ok. I'm here now, and I'm never gonna leave you again."

"Promise?" she asked vulnerably.

"Promise." He held her tightly and didn't speak for a moment. He couldn't help himself much longer. "Besides," he added, "my baby's gonna need ta know their daddy."

Lindsay's hand immediately went to rest on her stomach. While she wasn't huge, she was obviously pregnant. "Did you see the news thing?" she asked.

"Yeah. Only good thing my idiot of a roommate did the whole time. He was the one to call me in and see it," he explained.

"I'm so excited," Lindsay squealed, kissing Danny again.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Danny said ruefully, a hint of shame in his voice.

Lindsay had no problem kissing his frown away. "Don't be," she told him. "I was really upset that you weren't here at first, but then I realized that having the baby would mean having a part of you with me all the time."

"Are we having a boy or a girl?" Danny asked.

"I don't know," Lindsay told him, "I didn't find out. I was waiting for you."

"When's your next appointment?"

"Next Thursday," Lindsay told him. "You want to find out then?"

"Sure do," Danny said, kissing her. "Then we can come up with names."

Lindsay laughed. "Flack has his heart set on calling the baby Herbie."

Danny grimaced. "No child of mine will be called Herbie, I can assure you that." He stroked her hair gently. "Did Flack watch out for you?" he asked, wanting to hear it from her mouth as well as Don's.

"Yeah," Lindsay said, "I'm glad you said that. If the baby is a boy, I want to give him Don's name. It can be his middle name, but he just did so much for me while you were gone and he deserves it."

"Sounds like a plan," Danny said. He kissed the top of her head. "Let's go home."

* * *

Danny was delighted to wake up with his wife in his arms the next morning. Her soft, warm body was snuggled up against his chest, made him wonder how he'd gone six months without her there beside him.

A few short pieces of Lindsay's hair were covering her neck. That just wouldn't do. How was he to have access to her neck with all that hair in the way? He nuzzled her neck, clearing it of all hair, and then began placing feather light kisses on the body part in question.

Lindsay woke up when she felt a tickling sensation on her neck. At first she was very confused, not remembering that Danny was home. She'd gotten so used to him not being there that it startled her to have his body pressing against hers. Smiling, she turned around so that she was facing him and kissed him hard.

Danny raised a questioning eyebrow at her. He wasn't opposed to this form of "Good Morning" at all, he was just curious as to what prompted such a sudden jolt of intensity on his wife's part.

"I had to make sure it was real," she whispered. "I was afraid it was all a dream."

Danny smiled and pulled her flush against his chest. "It's definitely not a dream, Montana, it's a dream come true."

**A/N Sorry, but I just adore making Danny say corny little things like that. Yay. He's home!**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	17. Chapter 17

It took the Messers about a week to adjust to living the way they had before Danny went away. Mac was gracious enough to let them take some vacation days during this time period so that they could be together. It was harder than they'd expected, almost as bad as it had been when they first moved in together and were getting used to the way the other person lived.

"Danny! Did you drink the last of the milk?" Lindsay called in to her husband, who was getting dressed in the bedroom.

"Yeah, think so, why?" Danny called back.

Lindsay sighed and closed the refrigerator door. With an angry huff, she sat down at the kitchen table and stared at her milkless Cheerios. Since being pregnant she liked routine more than ever. It helped combat the constant nausea that she was still having. This whole not having milk thing was just going to throw everything off.

Danny wandered into the kitchen just then and saw Lindsay scowling into her cereal bowl. "Somethin' the matter, Montana?"

"See something wrong with this picture, Danny?" Lindsay asked grumpily.

Danny moved closer to her and peered into the bowl. "Why don't ya have any milk?" he asked. Then it dawned on him. "Oh. Sorry. Antonio never cared if I finished things off without replacin' them."

"Do I look like Antonio to you?" Lindsay spat.

"No, you're much more beautiful." Danny kissed her to try and get back on her good side. Living with a hormonal woman after residing for six months with a man with an IQ equivalent to his shoe size was tough business. "And I'll go and get some more milk." Lindsay raised an eyebrow at him, not quite satisfied. "Right now." He finished.

Lindsay smiled sweetly. "Thank you for offering, Danny! That's so considerate of you."

Danny kissed her on the nose. "You're so lucky I love you," he teased, patting her baby bump, "and that this little guy has half of my DNA."

"I love you, too," Lindsay smiled, pulling him down for a real kiss. "Now I need that milk."

* * *

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Messer," Dr. Holden said when Lindsay introduced them. "I've heard so much about you from your wife and Don." 

"Only good things, I hope," Danny smiled, snaking an arm around Lindsay's waist. He was so grateful that he was able to be here with her this time. Sure, Flack wasn't a bad choice, but this was _his_ baby they were talking about.

"So, are you ready to find out the sex of your child?" Dr. Holden asked, a smile on her face.

Lindsay glanced at her husband. "Definitely."

In no time, the doctor had Lindsay's ultrasound started. She moved the device around on Lindsay's stomach until she had a clear image of the baby. "Look, Danny," Lindsay whispered, "there's our baby."

Danny planted a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Yeah," he said, wiping away the tear that rolled down his cheek as discreetly as possibly. "That's out baby."

Lindsay smiled up at him. She could help the overwhelming feeling of pride and relief to finally have him there beside her.

"Congratulations, you're having a boy!" the doctor exclaimed.

Lindsay smiled and squeezed his hand.

"I love you, baby," was all that Danny was able to say.

"I love you, too."

* * *

The phone rang as Lindsay and Danny were curled up together on the couch, watching one of the movies Lindsay had declared as off limits while Danny was away. "Just ignore it," Danny said lazily, drawing Lindsay closer to him. 

"It might be important," Lindsay countered.

"What could be more important than this?" Danny asked stubbornly.

"This being what?"

"Being able to smell your hair and feel you right next to me," Danny answered simply.

Answers like that really made Lindsay want to ignore the phone. "I left a message for my parents," Lindsay said. "It might be them calling back."

"Fine," he grumbled, "go get the phone."

Lindsay hopped up off of the couch and went to answer the phone. "Hello? Messer residence." She always answered the phone this way. She loved being reassured that she was a Messer now and that Danny was all hers, even if it was her own voice saying this.

There was no answer on the other end. Lindsay could tell that somebody was there, though, for she could hear the heavy breathing of the mystery caller. "Hello?" she said again. "Hello?"

"Who is it, Linds?" Danny came over to where she was standing, the phone still in her hand.

Lindsay hung the phone up and shrugged. "There was somebody on the other line, but they didn't say anything."

"What was the Caller ID?" Danny's voice sounded a bit too urgent for just a wrong number.

"It was blocked," Lindsay said, beginning to be a bit frightened. "Danny, is something wrong?"

Danny pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "No, love, nothing's wrong. I'm sorry if I scared you."

* * *

Lindsay just couldn't stop smiling as she and Danny walked the streets of New York aimlessly. It felt so wonderful to have him back in her life for good. 

Danny, however, seemed distracted and jumpy. Lindsay had stopped to peer into a window without his knowledge. About five steps later he realized she wasn't right there next to him and freaked out. "Lindsay?" he called, sounding stressed and very worried. She closed the short distance between them, dodging a few people on the crowded sidewalk on the way.

"I'm right here, Danny, it's ok," Lindsay said, a slight frown on her face. "Are you ok? It doesn't seem like you're all the way here, if you know what I mean."

"Sorry, babe," Danny said, raking a hand through his hair. "I guess I'm just tired."

"Do you want to go home?" She asked, concern ringing in her voice. It had been a long day. They'd gotten up fairly early to go shopping for what Danny referred to as "baby stuff." It probably hadn't helped that Lindsay was beyond picky, insisting that her child was going to have the perfect bedroom and wardrobe and entertainment and that she wasn't going to settle for anything less. Needless to say, this caused for several grumpy salespeople and one very impatient Danny.

"Nah, I'm fine," Danny insisted, glancing over his shoulder for what seemed to be the thousandth time that day. His voice grew tense and his movements jerky. "In fact, why don't we check out this store?" he pushed Lindsay to the doorway of the nearest store.

"Danny, this is a deli," Lindsay told him, glancing at the sign in the window.

"Yeah, I'm really hungry," Danny insisted, opening the door and practically shoving her inside.

"Danny, what is wrong?" Lindsay hissed.

"Nothin', nothin'," Danny said. "I just heard this place is great."

"Daniel Giovanni Messer, you'd better tell me what's going on right now!" Lindsay said menacingly.

"I just thought that I saw a Tanglewood Boy, that's all," Danny said as lightly as possible. "I don't think that it was even him after all, but I'm not takin' any chances here."

Lindsay watched him carefully, trying to decide whether he was lying or not. "Ok," she said. "Just next time you do something like that, please inform me of what's going on first so that I don't freak out."

"Of course, Montana, I'm sorry."

"Now I really am hungry, so you'd better feed me before I get _really_ crabby," Lindsay told him, emphasizing the word 'really.'

Danny couldn't help but smile. "Lead the way, Montana."

**A/N So. My muse keeps running away from me. I know what I want to happen, I just can't come up with all that filler in between stuff. Don't you hate that? Anyway, reviews and ideas are my two favorite things…almost.**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	18. Chapter 18

Danny crept through the apartment getting ready as quietly as humanly possible. Even though he had to work, Lindsay had the day off, and he didn't want to wake her until right before he left. Really, he didn't want to wake her at all, but she made him promise that if he ever had to leave the house when she was sleeping that he'd wake her up and say goodbye first. He understood her reasoning, but at the same time he really wished that she'd allow him to grant her the sleep she needed.

He showered quickly and got dressed sleepily. Danny stumbled into the kitchen and whipped up an amazing breakfast of orange juice and cold cereal. Pregnancy had heightened Lindsay's sense of smell, so he was afraid that if he cooked something or made toast or coffee it would draw her out of her slumber.

Danny gathered all his things, making sure he had his gun, badge and wallet. It wasn't until after he'd put on his coat and shoes that he finally decided to tell his wife goodbye.

"Montana," he whispered, crouching by her side of the bed so that their faces were level with one another.

Lindsay stirred and opened her beautiful, amber eyes. "You leaving?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep.

"Yeah, will you be ok?" He leaned down to kiss her.

"Danny, I made it through six months without you. I'm sure I can handle one day." Danny stopped mid-kiss and began to pull away, a slightly hurt expression on his face. Even in her half awake state, Lindsay was able to catch the back of his neck and pull him down for a more thorough kiss. "I scraped by," she told him quietly. "I made it, but just barely. I hated every moment of it."

Danny kissed her forehead gently. "I know, baby, me too."

Lindsay moved to sit up, but Danny stopped her. "Go back to sleep," he said soothingly. "It's early."

"Will you wake me up?" she asked teasingly.

"Nope. You need your sleep," he said, kissing her one more time before standing up. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Lindsay said faintly, already being pulled back to the confines of sleep. If it hadn't been for her extreme exhaustion due to pregnancy, Lindsay probably wouldn't have been able to get back to sleep. She'd become very accustomed to having Danny in the bed with her in the last few weeks since he'd been home, and any change to this routine threw her off and caused slight insomnia on her part.

Lindsay awoke for a second time several hours later and was disappointed to see that Danny wasn't there, too. After thinking about it for a few moments she vaguely remembered him waking her up before he left to work. She lay there frowning for a few minutes until she worked up the strength to swing her feet over the edge of the bed and stand up. She wandered into the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator to try and find something that sounded appetizing. When she found nothing she collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs.

It wasn't until then that she noticed the flower in a cup sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. She smiled, remembering the first time that Danny had done this. There was a note this time as well, though it was on a scrap of paper, not a chalkboard.

_Montana –_

_Call me when you wake up_

_I love you._

_D_

Lindsay found the phone and dialed Danny's cell phone. He answered after one ring. "Good morning, sunshine," he said. Lindsay could tell from his voice that he was smiling.

"I was lonely when I woke up," Lindsay whined good naturedly.

"Sorry, baby. You know that if I could have been there I would have been."

"I know. I miss you." Lindsay hated being this vulnerable over the phone. If Danny was actually there in the room with her it would be a different story. Then he could hold her and stroke her hair and she would be able to smell him and feel safe and secure. While she loved hearing his voice, she wanted more at this moment.

Danny sighed. "I miss you too, Montana, like you wouldn't believe."

"I get scared." Lindsay said.

"Of what?" Danny's voice had no trace of a smile now; he just sounded very concerned.

"I'm scared that when you leave you won't come back," Lindsay said, hot tears brimming in her eyes, much to her dismay. Before Danny even had a chance to respond she spoke again. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm just being stupid and hormonal. I'll let you get back to work."

"No, Montana, don't hang up sweetheart. I'll always come back to you, I promise."

"But how do you know?" Lindsay said thickly through her tears.

"I know that nothing in the entire world could keep me from you. I know that I'm not complete unless you are right there beside me and I know that I can't function correctly without you."

"I love you." That was the only response that Lindsay found appropriate.

"I love you, too." Lindsay heard Stella's voice faintly in the background. "Linds,

I have to go. I'm really sorry. I'll call you as soon as I can, ok?"

"Ok. When does your shift end?"

"Three."

"Ok. I love you." She'd just said that less than a minute ago, but she felt it necessary to say it again.

"I love you more than anything, Lindsay." Before Danny could feel guilty about leaving her all alone, he quickly hung up the phone.

The hours passed slowly for Lindsay when her husband wasn't there. Most members of the team savor their days off, but even though Danny was no longer on his undercover job, Lindsay still hated them with a passion. She didn't find a point in not working if she was just going to be all alone.

Danny called again a few hours later, but once again he only had a few minutes to talk to Lindsay. Before hanging up he promised to call when he was on his way home.

At this point Lindsay had run out of things to keep her occupied, so she decided to take a nap on the couch until Danny got home. She was awfully tired these days, so why not?

She hadn't been sleeping twenty minutes when a knock on the door roused her. She mentally cursed whoever it was and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she stumbled to the front door. Lindsay peered through the peep hole, but whoever it was had their face turned away. Confused and slightly curious, she swung the door open. Immediately, a large hand covered her mouth and an even larger man muscled his way into the apartment, kicking the door closed behind him.

Lindsay struggled against him, swinging her small fists at him furiously and biting down on his hand as hard as she could.

"Ouch!" the man yelped, snatching his hand away from Lindsay and loosening his grip enough for her to slip away. She was halfway to the phone when she heard a gun cock. Horrified, she slowly turned and looked at the man. His features were hardened and she knew that he meant business. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said threateningly.

Lindsay saw his finger twitch slightly on the trigger and her arms immediately went to cover her protruding stomach. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"Antonio," he said.

Lindsay gulped. "Antonio?"

"Are you deaf?"

"Shouldn't you be in jail?" Lindsay blurted out before she could stop herself.

"I got away," he said, leering at her. His teeth were yellow and stained. It made her glad their proximity wasn't closer, for she was sure that his breath was rank. "I'm not as stupid as people think," he told her, an evil smirk on his face. "I figured out that your no good husband gave us away."

"How intelligent of you," Lindsay said sarcastically.

"A little feisty, are you?" His grin was slightly amused now, and it made Lindsay sick. "I see why Messer likes you."

Lindsay stared the man down, trying her best to appear as though she wasn't terrified. "What do you want?"

"Where's your lying scum of a husband?" Antonio spat out.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't talk about him like that," Lindsay said icily. "And he's not here." She immediately regretted telling the creep that she was alone.

Antonio's grin widened and his eyes sparkled almost maniacally. "We'll just have to have some fun until he comes home, now won't we?" He began to move forward towards Lindsay, but with every step he took, Lindsay took one backwards. Antonio was growing angrier by the minute.

In desperation, Lindsay glanced at the digital clock on the microwave. 3:03. Danny should be calling her any minute now. Her breathing grew heavier as Antonio continued advancing on her. She tried backing up further, but she soon ran into the kitchen counter and could move no more.

Antonio leered at her. He grabbed either side of her face and began roughly kissing her. Lindsay struggled against him, trying with all her might to push him away, but he was too strong. His filthy hands roamed her body and she began to cry. His large body crushed her against the counter, causing her to worry about the safety of her child.

"Please," Lindsay sobbed, "you're hurting my baby!"

Antonio showed no sign that he had even heard her as he unbuttoned her jeans.

"Stop!" Lindsay cried, shoving him away with all her strength. He didn't move, even when she put all her weight into the push.

The phone rang just then. Lindsay knew it was Danny. She glanced longingly at the ringing object and struggled against Antonio to try and reach it.

"Don't even think about it," Antonio growled.

* * *

Danny hung up his cell phone in confusion. Lindsay always answered the phone, especially when she was expecting his call as he knew she was. Almost immediately, an unexplainable sense of dread overtook him. He silently urged the subway to hurry up so that he could get home and fix whatever trouble it was that Lindsay was in.

When the subway screeched to a halt at Danny's station, he practically plowed down the other passengers in his attempt to get home as quickly as possible. He pushed through the mobs of people on the platform and took the stairs up to street level two at a time. He then proceeded to sprint the short distance between the station and their apartment in record time.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Messer!" Ron, the doorman greeted happily as a very out of breath Danny entered the building.

Danny managed to give Ron a short wave over his shoulder as he headed for the stairs, certain that the elevator wouldn't go fast enough.

When he reached their floor, his sense of urgency and danger increased tenfold. It was almost as though there was a constant connection between him and Lindsay – one similar to those that identical twins sometimes had. He had a way of sensing when things weren't right, and he was certain that things were about as far from right as they could be.

This feeling was solidified when he heard a gunshot coming from their apartment. He ran past the five doors that separated him from his wife, yelling to their neighbor, Jeff, who'd stuck his head out of his apartment to call 911. Shocked and horrified, Jeff scurried back into his dwelling to do what his cop neighbor told him to do.

Danny burst into his apartment to see two people – one standing with a smoking gun in their hand and the other on the floor, dead.

**A/N That's enough for today, don't you think? **

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	19. Chapter 19

Danny gasped when he saw Antonio lying motionless on the floor. What horrified him even more was his wife standing shirtless with her jeans halfway pushed down, a gun in her hand. Without even bothering to close the door, he rushed over to her side and gently took the gun from her hands before pulling her into his arms, prompting her to burst into a fresh set of tears.

"Shh," he crooned, stroking her hair. "I'm here now, nobody can hurt you."

Lindsay responded by burying her face in his chest and continuing to sob. After a few minutes of tears, she calmed down and with shaking fingers she pulled her jeans up and fastened them properly. She then took her discarded shirt, which Danny had retrieved for her, and pulled it over her head.

"He didn't…." Danny's voice faltered and he found himself unable to finish the question. "He didn't… hurt you, did he?" Tears swam in his eyes just thinking about somebody violating his wife in such a horrible way.

Lindsay snuggled back against his chest and shook her head. "No," she whispered. "I got him off me before he could."

"Good," Danny whispered hoarsely. "Are you ok?" He knew it was a rather stupid question. After what he suspected that she'd gone through there was absolutely no way that she was ok, but he didn't know what else to ask.

"I think he might have hurt the baby, Danny," Lindsay told him, her lip quivering.

Danny's eyes went from sorrowful and concerned to fiercely angry. "Jeff called 911," he managed to choke out. "They'll be here soon. Then we can get you to a hospital and have the baby checked on. Everything is going to be ok," he promised. "It has to be."

True to his word, the police arrived a moment later. It didn't surprise either of them to see Mac, Stella and Flack trailing behind the two uniformed cops. Stella's shocked eyes went from Antonio to Lindsay to the gun on the counter and then back to Lindsay again. Her mind involuntarily flashed back to Frankie, but she cleared the memory with a shake of her head.

"I've got to get Lindsay to the hospital," Danny informed his colleagues hoarsely. "The baby might be hurt."

"There's a bus downstairs," Mac said, speaking for the first time. "Flack and Stella will go with you. I'll stay here with the uniforms and begin to process."

Lindsay began to cry again at the thought of her home being a crime scene. "Shh," Danny murmured, trying hard to keep his tears out of his voice. "It's all over now. You're going to be fine, and so is our baby." Without another word, he lifted her effortlessly into his arms and exited the apartment, Stella and Flack trailing close behind.

Due to Danny and Lindsay's job description and the fact that Sheldon had called the hospital when they were on their way, Lindsay was seen immediately upon arrival. Stella and Flack waited outside the door, both pacing restlessly, eager to hear about the health of their friends' unborn child.

Inside the room, Danny gripped Lindsay's hand tightly, alternating between wanting to know the verdict and dreading hearing the news. Lindsay lay there quietly, willing herself not to cry as the kind doctor prepared for the ultrasound. She squeezed her eyes closed as the image of her child popped up onto the screen, not wanting to watch if it was going to be bad news.

After several minutes, the doctor smiled at Danny, whose eyes were glued to the screen wishing that he knew how to interpret the thing. "You're baby is just fine," she said, truly happy for the young couple.

Lindsay's eyes shot open. "Really?"

"It truly is a miracle that there was no harm done due to all the stress you said was put on your child."

Lindsay's eyes filled with tears once more, but this time they were of relief and joy. She sat up and Danny's arms immediately went around her.

"However," the doctor continued, hating to put a damper on the couple's joyous mood. "I'm going to recommend that you go on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy due to this accident and the on you had previously. "

"Ok, sure," Lindsay said. "Anything for my baby." She smiled through the tears that were streaming down her face.

The doctor left the room, still smiling, and, having received Danny and Lindsay's permission, shared the happy news with Flack and Stella.

Flack and Stella gave the couple a few minutes to be alone. When they could stand it no longer, they burst into the room. By now Lindsay had calmed down a great deal, but Danny's arms were still protectively around her.

"So Herbie's ok?" Flack asked.

Danny glared at him. "I thought I told you that no child of mine was going to be nicknamed Herbie. It will confuse him!"

Lindsay couldn't help but smile. "Yes, he's fine, Flack."

Stella sighed with relief. For some reason, hearing the news from the doctor wasn't enough. Now that she'd heard Lindsay say it, she felt that she could relax. "Lindsay, what exactly happened?" she asked cautiously.

"Montana, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Danny said, kissing her hair.

"No, I want to get it all out," Lindsay explained. She took a deep breath before beginning her story. "I was taking a nap when I heard the doorbell ring. I looked through the peep hole but I couldn't really see his face. I guess I just figured it was one of the neighbors or something. Anyway, I opened the door and he covered my mouth and pushed his way inside. He wouldn't let go of me, so I bit his hand until he let me go." This statement caused all three of the listeners to smile.

"That's my girl," Danny said, kissing her forehead.

"Then I tried to get to the phone, but he pulled a gun on me, so I stopped. He asked where you were," she glanced at Danny. "I told him you weren't home."

"That probably wasn't the smartest thing to say," Flack chided.

"He would have figured it out eventually," Lindsay defended herself. "Then he told me that we were just going to have to find something to pass the time with." She shuddered. Telling the story had been surprisingly easy up until this point. "He grabbed me and started kissing me and I tried to get him off, but I couldn't. He was shoving me up against the counter and I begged him to get off of me because he was squishing the baby, but he wouldn't. He was, um, taking off my clothes when Danny called home." Danny's arms tightened around her. "He told me that I'd better not answer the phone. He got a little distracted because of the phone and I saw that he put the gun down on the counter. So, I kneed him in the crotch and he backed away and I grabbed his gun and ran across the room. He ran after me and then I shot him."

"You were really brave, Lindsay," Stella said. "That's a scary situation to be in."

Lindsay nodded and managed a sad smile. "Thanks, Stella. I was mostly just worried about the baby."

"And now," Danny said, "you're going to do nothing but worry about the baby until it comes."

"Bed rest?" Stella asked.

"Yep," Danny confirmed.

"Oh no," Flack groaned, causing everybody to laugh. "Not more Doritos!"

"Well, Danny's home now, so it won't be too bad for you guys." Lindsay said, glancing admiringly at her husband.

"I'll talk to Mac as soon as I can to see how much he can spare me," Danny said. "I don't want you to be alone. Ever."

"Danny," Lindsay sighed.

"No, he's right," Flack agreed. "You should be protected. And, you shouldn't put any more strain on the baby. We'll all pitch in on the days when Danny's working."

"Thanks, guys." Lindsay smiled, grateful to have such wonderful friends. She turned to Danny. "Can I go home now?"

"Not home, necessarily, but you can leave the hospital." He looked apologetic. "We're not going to be able to go home until at least tomorrow."

Lindsay nodded. "I just want to get out of here."

A few phone calls later, Danny had arranged for them to get a hotel room. Mac insisted on having cops patrolling the hallways of the hotel as well as two stationed outside the doorway. Lindsay was too proud to admit it, but she was really glad Mac had gone to the extra trouble.

Stella and Flack retrieved the necessary items from the apartment for Danny and Lindsay so that they wouldn't have to go inside. "There's both of your pajamas, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a change of clothes for each of you, razors, shampoo... everything you'll need," Stella said, handing Danny an overnight bag. "I think I got everything, but if I forgot something, just call."

"Thanks, Stel," Lindsay said. She also refused to admit that she wasn't ready to go inside the apartment yet.

Danny drove them to the hotel and they checked in, a uniform trailing them everywhere. Lindsay curled up on the bed as soon as they arrived, but couldn't sleep.

"Are you hungry?" Danny asked. Even with no wait at the hospital, it had gotten to be later than he'd thought. His own stomach grumbled uncomfortably.

"A little," she said. The truth was, she wasn't hungry at all, but she knew Danny would be on her case if she didn't eat.

"I'll order us some room service."

The room service came remarkably fast. Danny devoured his food, but Lindsay only half heartedly picked at it. "Linds, honey, you need to eat," Danny told her.

"I'm not hungry," she insisted.

"You need to eat," he repeated.

Lindsay took a bite of her hamburger to humor him. "Happy?"

"Nope. Eat more."

"Danny," she whined.

"Don't 'Danny' me. You need your strength." He patted her stomach. "This little one is depending on you for nourishment."

Lindsay suddenly felt guilty and selfish. For what felt like the zillionth time that day, tears flooded her eyes.

Danny felt very guilty as well when he saw that he'd upset her. He took her into his arms. "I'm sorry," he murmured, "I didn't mean to make you upset."

"It's not your fault," she said, willing the tears not to fall. "It's just been a really long day."

"Why don't you finish up what you can and take a shower before bed." Danny suggested.

Lindsay sniffled and nodded. She took a few more bites of her hamburger and finished off a couple of fries. She glanced up at Danny as if she was searching for his approval. "Thank you, sweetheart," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

Lindsay then took a quick shower and changed into her pajamas. "Are you going to take a shower?" she asked him, hoping that the answer was no. She was really tired and wanted to go to sleep, but knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep without him beside her.

"Nah," he said, stripping down to his boxers. "I'm good."

Lindsay saw that he wasn't going to wear the shirt that Stella and Don had packed for him to sleep in, so she fished it out of the bag and replaced the shirt she was currently wearing with Danny's. "More comfortable," she said in response to his questioning look.

After making sure that the door was locked, Danny turned the lights out and crawled in bed next to his wife. "I love you, Montana," he said into her ear. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you today."

"Shh," it was Lindsay's turn to comfort him. She kissed him gently. "I love you, too. Don't ever forget that."

Danny kissed her neck. "Go to sleep, love." He could tell that she was exhausted and he didn't want to keep her up any longer.

In the safe confines of her husband's arms, Lindsay fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

**A/N Now, you silly, silly people. Did you seriously think I'd kill Lindsay? I firmly believe in happy endings. And I also believe that those who kill off main characters should be shot. Ok, that's a little harsh, but I do hate it when that happens!**

**xoxo**

**Lia**


	20. Chapter 20

Lindsay awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of Danny's soft sobs. She glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning. She looked up to see her husband sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands and his back facing her. Her heart broke as she realized that she was most likely the reason for his distress.

She sat up and rose to her knees. She then scooted over so that she was right behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her chin on his shoulder. She felt Danny relax slightly against her as he leaned his head on top of hers. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"I never should have left you," he cried. "I should have just stayed with you and kept you safe."

"Danny, I was perfectly safe when you were gone."

"Maybe then, but you're not now!" he exclaimed. "You're in danger because I had to go and be all heroic and macho!"

"Honey, I'm fine," she assured him.

"You don't get it!" he all but shouted.

Lindsay recoiled when he yelled. She removed her arms from around his neck and began to crawl back to her side of the bed. Danny was too quick, though, and he gently caught her arm in one of his large hands before she could get too far. Crying even harder he pulled her into his lap and cradled her in his strong arms. "I'm sorry," he whispered over and over again. "I'm so sorry, Lindsay."

Every time he said the words she knew that he didn't just mean for yelling at her. She knew that he felt some guilt for leaving her for such a long time and was pretty certain that he held himself responsible for the ordeal between Lindsay and Antonio. "What don't I get, Danny?" she asked after he'd had a few minutes to calm down.

"You're all I have, Montana," he whispered, sounding very pained. "You an' the baby are all I've got. If anythin' ever happened to either of you I don't know if I'd make it! I love you so much that it hurts." He wiped away a stray tear that made its way down his cheek. "I know that sounds corny, but it's true. Every time I'm not with you all I can think about it gettin' back to you as soon as I can."

Lindsay raised her head from where it was resting on his chest and placed a tender kiss on his lips. "I love you more than anything in the whole world," she told him, shifting on his lap so that she could wrap her arms around him.

"I'm never gonna let anythin' happen to you," Danny promised. Even in the darkness of the room, Lindsay could see the fierce love in her husband's eyes.

"I never thought you would," Lindsay said quietly. She crawled off of his lap and tugged on his arm until he was reclining next to her. She grabbed both of his arms and wrapped them around her, placing her hands over them.

"Will you promise me something?" Danny asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

"Depends," Lindsay yawned.

"Promise you won't go gettin' yourself into any dangerous situations."

"Danny, it's not like I went looking for Antonio," she said.

Danny tensed and pulled her closer to his chest. "He came lookin' for me," he said bitterly.

Lindsay shifted in his arms so that she was facing him. "It's not your fault and I don't blame you." she told him bluntly. "So, I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop blaming yourself. It doesn't make anybody feel better."

"I'm sorry," he kissed her gently. "I love you, Montana."

"I love you, too, Danny." She smiled. "And your baby boy loves it when Mommy's well rested, so I strongly recommend us getting some sleep."

Danny's face split into a little kid on Christmas morning kind of grin.

"What?" Lindsay asked, thoroughly amused.

"I love it when you refer to yourself as 'mommy,'" he said, kissing her again.

Lindsay grinned right back at him. "Get used to it. You're going to be hearing it a lot from now on, _Daddy._" She put emphasis on her use of the word 'daddy.'

"Oh, I most definitely will," Danny said, kissing her on the forehead. "Now go to sleep."

A/N Ok, so I've spent like a billion and a half years trying to come up with an actual ending to this chapter so that it's not like 5 words long, but I couldn't. So this is all you get for now. I'm really sorry.

**xoxo**

**Lia**


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